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Investigation into Conservative movement’s youth programs identifies ‘hypersexualized culture’
(JTA) – An investigation into sexual abuse and misconduct in the Conservative movement’s youth group programs over the past seven decades identified an “overly sexualized culture” and collected accounts of alleged abuse from 40 victims.
Most of the allegations included in the investigation took place between 1987 and 2019 in the New York City area, and the alleged perpetrators are no longer affiliated with the Conservative movement, according to the report. The report urges the movement to keep its current practices around protecting children in place. It also urges the movement to improve its implementation of safety measures and record-keeping, and to “advance a healthier culture for teens.”
The investigation commissioned by the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the movement’s umbrella organization for congregations, was based on documents and interviews with the victims. It turned up allegations of “wrongful sexual contact, reports of grooming, reports of an over sexualized culture, and other boundary-crossing behaviors” at programs run by the movement’s youth group, United Synagogue Youth, known as USY. (The Conservative movement’s network of Ramah camps is not under the United Synagogue’s auspices.)
One section of the 20-page report is dedicated to the culture of sexualization within the Conservative movement’s youth programs and includes reports of inappropriate games and pressure on teens to engage in sexual activity with one another. The report comes amid a time of reckoning over child sexual abuse in the Jewish world. It is the latest in a series of similar investigations commissioned by major Jewish religious organizations that examine sexual misconduct against teens in Jewish youth movements, camps, schools and other institutions.
The investigation did not corroborate the allegations and did not discover “widespread or systematic abuse,” according to the report, which was written by UCSJ and approved by Sarah Worley, the attorney hired to gather information and draft recommendations. No one implicated in the investigation currently works or volunteers in the movement, according to Worley’s investigation. Every adult accused of sexual misconduct has been barred from future participation.
The report doesn’t name anyone, victim or perpetrator. At least one former employee of the youth group, former USY Nassau County, Long Island, divisional director Ed Ward, is the subject of multiple lawsuits accusing him of sexual abuse of multiple teens. He worked for USY until 2020.
Following an initial report on one of the lawsuits in the Times of Israel in 2021, additional allegations against Ward emerged. USCJ is a co-defendant in that lawsuit. A second suit alleges that Ward’s abuse took place as recently as 2018. Days after those allegations were published, USCJ launched its investigation into misconduct at USY. The Times of Israel said Ward did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
“USY must ask itself what about its own identity allowed this to transpire, and what must it do to ensure that it can never happen again,” Rabbi Jordan Soffer, one of Ward’s alleged accusers, told the Times of Israel in 2021. Describing a time when he says Ward took him into a bathroom and masturbated in front of him, he said, “I came up with every excuse I could think of. I’m tired. I can’t. I’m embarrassed. I told him I wanted to leave. He told me to stay until he finished.”
Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal, CEO of the USCJ, said in a statement on Wednesday’s report, “We fully condemn past misconduct as reported to Ms. Worley and we remain committed to providing a safe and enriching environment for our Jewish teens without exception.”
The bulk of recent misconduct reported to Worley took place in the New York City area and was allegedly committed by two perpetrators, while the programs on the West Coast saw more cases in earlier decades.
Among the cases summarized in the report was a victim who said that an adult staff member threatened to blackmail them with a graphic photograph while at camp in the 1980s. In the 1990s, one unnamed adult staff member allegedly sexually assaulted teens across four separate incidents. Five reports to Worley said that a single staff member encouraged teen campers to masturbate as a group in the 2000s, an allegation that was made against Ward in 2021. Allegations in the 2010s included groping of a teen by a staff member and sharing of a graphic video.
The report also describes a culture in which teens felt pressure to engage in sexual activity with each other. In particular, the report describes the “Point System,” in which participants in USY activities received a certain number of “points” for “hooking up” with another USY member, based on that member’s position in the youth group. Similar systems exist in other Jewish youth groups as well. “Multiple victim/survivors and others reported their concern with the Point System and offered it as an example of the hypersexualized culture that they believe pervades USY and its programs,” the report says.
“Some explained that sexualized ‘traditions’ had been developed and passed down over generations, and in some instances, victim/survivors said they felt torn between their reluctance to participate in these traditions and their sense that, as teens in the Conservative movement, their participation was expected,” the report says.
Only one of the allegations of sexual misconduct occurred since 2020. The misconduct involved an adult staff member grooming a teen through text messages.
The Conservative movement’s investigation overlapped with a similar reckoning taking place in the Reform movement, which carried out three investigations into sexual misconduct, including one that was focused on Reform youth programs.
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The Evidence Says That Al Jazeera Collaborates With Hamas
The Al Jazeera Media Network logo is seen on its headquarters building in Doha, Qatar, June 8, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Naseem Zeitoon
Al Jazeera’s leadership shake-up has been in the headlines. But will its new executives direct the Qatari state-funded media arm to cease its cozy relationship with Hamas?
Allegations have been swirling that the royal family’s soft power news outlet is not merely reporting what Hamas says — but is actively collaborating with the terrorist organization.
Al Jazeera sells its content to major wire services like the AP and Reuters. Al Jazeera has resource-sharing agreements that allow outlets like CNN to access Al Jazeera’s footage and Al Jazeera to use CNN’s news feed.
Al Jazeera also has arrangements with BBC, France 24, and The Guardian that enable them to use Al Jazeera’s video footage and reports. Other media outlets, including Deutsche Welle and Euronews, have direct syndication arrangements, allowing them to use Al Jazeera’s content without intermediaries.
Credible reports indicate that Al Jazeera’s ties to Hamas extend well beyond journalism. Evidence points to coordination between the Qatari network and Hamas terrorists, raising serious reputational and policy questions for Al Jazeera and for media or corporate partners that cooperate with it.
Reporters Working for Both Al Jazeera and Hamas
Six Al Jazeera journalists simultaneously worked for Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), according to evidence seized by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) that has been made public.
Three have since been killed in Gaza. At any credible outlet, concurrently working for a US-designated terrorist organization would result in immediate dismissal. Not so with Al Jazeera. The absence of accountability speaks volumes.
Some of these journalists reportedly participated in Hamas’ October 7, 2023, assault, joining the terrorists who breached and burned Israeli kibbutzim near Gaza, massacring nearly 1,200 and kidnapping 250 others.
Media and corporate partners should have immediately paused collaboration with Al Jazeera until a credible internal investigation was conducted. But it appears that no such credible investigation occurred. Instead, the network issued denials that its reporters were working with Hamas.
Al Jazeera’s Role in Hamas’ October 7 Plan
The New York Times reported that Hamas’ October 7 massacre involved a detailed media strategy. This appeared to include a role for Al Jazeera, which aired prerecorded messages from Hamas commanders during the attack to inspire Arabs outside of Gaza to join in the fighting.
Al Jazeera’s reported collaboration as part of Hamas’ media strategy was not some innocuous business deal. Documents seized by the IDF reveal the terror group sought to ignite uprisings among Palestinians in the West Bank, Israeli Arabs, and Iranian proxies like Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border. One seized memo from 2023 stated that “two or three operations in which an entire neighborhood, kibbutz, or something similar will be burned” must occur to galvanize others.
There could be no credible denial about what was taking place. Hamas actively sought to broadcast its atrocities. Intercepts show that around 10 a.m. on October 7, a Hamas battalion commander, Abu Mohammed, ordered his fighters to “start setting homes on fire,” shouting “Burn, burn” and “I want the whole kibbutz in flames.”
Another six-page handwritten plan attributed to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar directed militants to “stomp on the heads of soldiers,” shoot them “at point-blank range,” and “slaughter some with knives.”
Commanders repeated and executed these orders in real time. “Slit their throats,” one said. “Kill everyone on the road. Kill everyone you encounter.” Another instructed, “Take a lot of hostages.”
According to a podcast featuring Ronen Bergman, a coauthor of the New York Times piece, Hamas wanted to showcase its “success” by showing Israelis dying, homes burning, and tanks exploding to convince allies that the destruction of Israel could be achieved.
Al Jazeera’s role was to spread this message, airing prerecorded communications from Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, who proclaimed: “The day has come when anyone who has a gun should take it out. Now is the time. If you do not have a gun, take up your cleaver, axe, Molotov cocktail, truck, tractor, or car.”
Bergman explained that these speeches were “coordinated” and “perfectly synchronized” with Al Jazeera’s broadcasts.
A Hamas commander named Abu al-Baraa, according to intercepted communications, told Hamas terrorists invading Israel: “Document the scenes of horror, now, and broadcast them on TV channels to the whole world. Slaughter them. End the children of Israel.”
During and after the attack, Al Jazeera broadcast footage of the massacre while also airing Hamas’ messages, essentially serving as the group’s propaganda arm.
Throughout the war, Al Jazeera aired exclusive footage from Hamas tunnels, portraying the terrorist group as resilient rather than exposing its use of civilian areas for terror operations. It’s telling that Al Jazeera’s coverage portrayed Hamas as winning, while the network refrained from any criticism of the terrorist group’s leadership, tactics, hoarding of humanitarian aid, or harm done to Gazans for starting the war.
Internal Hamas communications dated before October 7 also show that the group instructed Al Jazeera to use specific terminology and limit visuals of failed rocket launches that fell inside Gaza. Al Jazeera reportedly complied with these instructions.
Direct Dial: Hamas’ Line Into Al Jazeera
Evidence found by the IDF and analyzed by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center reveals that Hamas and Al Jazeera maintained a structured communications pipeline throughout the Israel-Hamas war. The captured Hamas documents show the creation of a “secure phone line” — referred to as the “Al Jazeera phone” — linking Hamas’ military operations room in Gaza directly to “Al Jazeera’s management offices in Doha.”
The line reportedly allowed Hamas to “control coverage in real time” by transmitting instructions on which events to air, what terminology to use, and which images to suppress.
Additional documents revealed that Hamas operatives sent media directives to Al Jazeera’s newsroom with detailed guidance on editorial framing. One 2022 memo urged the network to “minimize” images from a failed rocket launch that killed Gazan civilians and to avoid using the term “massacre” to refer to the event.
A subsequent Hamas media directive requested that Al Jazeera journalists coordinate with the movement’s “military media unit” before broadcasting material about the PIJ, ensuring consistency with Hamas’ narratives.
The Meir Amit Center described this pattern of coordination as “neither random nor isolated but systematic, organized and continuous.”
Why the Journalism World Should be Alarmed
Those who partner and collaborate with Al Jazeera cannot dismiss these findings as mere considerations. Continued cooperation with a network that coordinates with Hamas carries reputational, ethical, and potentially legal consequences. The same scrutiny applied to financial institutions accused of directly or indirectly supporting terror should extend to media entities that amplify or assist it.
Toby Dershowitz is a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Asher Boiskin is an intern. Follow them on X @TobyDersh and @asherboiskin.
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Hamas Is Still in Power — What Does That Mean for the Gaza ‘Peace’ Deal?
Palestinian militants stand guard on the day that hostages held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, are handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as part of a ceasefire and hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Oct. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
For weeks, the world praised the so-called “historic ceasefire deal” in Gaza brokered by President Donald Trump. It was hailed as a diplomatic masterstroke, a moment of supposed statesmanship that would stop the war, bring stability, and resolve the hostage crisis.
But peel away the glitter, and the truth is painfully simple: only one promise of that deal was fully kept — the release of the living Israeli hostages. Everything else collapsed into illusion or danger. And once again, Israel was left to deal with the consequences alone.
The ceasefire did not dismantle Hamas, disarm it, or replace it with any mechanism of governance that could prevent another October 7. Hamas remained in power, kept its rockets, rifles, explosives, and tunnels, and continues to kill Palestinians who dared to dissent.
Hundreds of Gazans were murdered by Hamas, while the world looked away. Even after enjoying international legitimacy through a US-sponsored deal, Hamas refused to return the remains of three murdered Israelis to their families. And far from reforming, restraining, or civilizing Hamas, the ceasefire simply gave the group more time, money, and power.
So while the world celebrated a “diplomatic breakthrough,” Israel understood the truth: a deal that leaves a genocidal terror group in power is not peace. It is temporary anesthesia.
The consequences of this deal did not end in Gaza. They reached Washington, and they reached the Oval Office. President Trump has continued building ties with Qatar, ignoring the fact that its government was harboring Hamas leaders, funding extremist propaganda, and fueling anti-Israel operations across the Middle East. Israel was asked to play nice with its enemies because powerful men in fancy palaces were writing very expensive checks.
Even more dangerous was Trump’s plan to sell F-35 stealth fighters to Saudi Arabia, a regime ruled by an authoritarian monarchy with a long record of human rights abuses, zero tolerance for dissent, and a history of anti-Israel rhetoric. There are also serious questions about whether the US and Israel can trust guarantees from Turkey and Syria, which the former being especially unlikely.
The lesson is clear. International guarantees come and go. American presidents change. Arab regimes shift alliances. Tyrants receive gifts, favors, and weapons. But Israel’s enemies remain the same. And the lesson is as old as the State of Israel itself: never trust foreign promises, and never depend on foreign protection. Israel can rely only on herself.
A ceasefire deal that empowers Hamas is not peace. Weapons shipments to dictators are not stability.
Israel’s own courage, strength, and moral clarity is what will keep her safe long after the glitter of these “historic deals” fades into dust.
Sabine Sterk is the CEO of Time To Stand Up For Israel.
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The Sacred Power of Challah Bakes and Why I Keep Doing Them
A loaf of challah being prepared. Photo: Aish.
There I was last week, standing on the rooftop of the AISH Institute for Women’s Education, flour dusting my blue apron, watching dozens of young women with their hands kneading dough. The Jerusalem skyline stretched out behind us like God’s own backdrop for our first-ever challah bake at the new seminary in the heart of the city — an event I’ve dreamed of hosting for so many years.
I’ve often held these events in other locations — what I call my “ABCs of Challah Bakes” tour, from Amsterdam, to Brooklyn, to Cape Town, and everywhere in between.
I’ve literally been flown around the world to knead dough with Jewish women. Sounds crazy, right? But there’s something magical about hosting this on the rooftop of our newly inaugurated seminary with young women who have come from all over the world to study Jewish wisdom together.
Through this Challah bake, we joined tens of thousands of women who were participating in similar events in stadiums, synagogues, and community centers worldwide, each of us elbow-deep in flour. We shared something monumental that brought us together in a way that was both moving and invigorating. The Shabbos Project figured this magic out 12 years ago, and honestly, they struck gold.
Want to know the real secret to challah bakes? They’re the Jewish equivalent of a universal welcome mat. I’ve seen women show up who haven’t set foot in a synagogue in decades or ever. Women who don’t fast on Yom Kippur or attend a Passover seder. Women who would typically run from anything remotely religious. Yet somehow, they come out of the woodwork for challah bakes. It’s mind-blowing! Maybe it’s the smell of fresh bread, maybe it’s the laughter and camaraderie, maybe it’s just the promise of those sweet and sumptuous carbs for the special day of Shabbos, but they come, and that’s what matters.
Since October 7, these events have gained even more momentum. For two years, our hearts broke daily thinking about what’s been happening in Israel and what was transpiring for the hostages in Gaza. I believe it is because of the search for connection that many Jews felt after October 7th, that these challah bake gatherings have morphed into something even more powerful.
Women who felt disconnected were suddenly craving community. The simple act of kneading dough has become this beautiful act of resilience. We’re literally taking flour and water, and a few more basic ingredients, and creating something nourishing when so much around us feels impossibly out of control.
I’ve always been a believer in the spiritual side of challah baking — just ask my family. I’ve been preaching about it for years. But then came Ori Megidish’s story. Her mother baked challah and made a special blessing for her daughter’s safe return on October 27, 2023, while Ori was held hostage by Hamas, praying with every fold of her dough for her daughter’s safe return. Three days later, Ori became the first hostage rescued by the IDF. Social media went wild connecting the dots. It made challah bakes look pretty powerful, and women noticed.
This isn’t superstition, mysticism, or folklore; Jewish tradition actually teaches that the moment when we separate a small piece from our dough is an incredibly auspicious time for prayer. Standing there with dough on your hands, preparing food that will nourish people you love and separating a small piece in compliance with Jewish law, our sages teach, is precisely the moment when heaven’s paying extra close attention to our prayers.
At our rooftop event, we aimed those prayers toward healing, physical, mental, and spiritual, for everyone touched by this horrific conflict in addition to very personal, heartfelt prayers and blessings for two new brides in the group. There were belly laughs and quiet tears, sometimes from the same person within minutes.
These gatherings work because you walk away with something real, actual bread that fills your home with that Friday afternoon (aka “erev shabbos”) smell that takes you right back to your bubby’s kitchen. But you also leave with something you can’t Instagram: new friends, renewed purpose, and this crazy warm feeling that you’re part of something bigger than yourself.
That’s why I’ll keep doing these as long as I possibly can. Like I’ve witnessed at the Suzana and Ivan Kaufman AISH Institute for Women’s Education, I’ve watched shy women who came once reluctantly then return year after year with friends in tow. I’ve seen friendships form across decades and continents.
I’ve witnessed the power of flour and water to heal wounds you can’t see, and in a world desperate for healing, there’s something revolutionary about women performing this ancient ritual together. The challah feeds our bodies; the community and spirituality of the moment feed our souls. As we shape our dough, we’re reshaping our world, one prayer, one loaf, and one gathering at a time.
And who knows? With enough flour, faith, and friendship, we might just heal all that divides us.
Jamie Geller is the Global Spokesperson and Chief Communications Officer for AISH. She is a bestselling cookbook author, Jewish education advocate, and formerly an award-winning producer and marketing executive with HBO, CNN, and Food Network.