Uncategorized
Israeli minister cancels LA speech due to protests and ‘bad vibes’
(JTA) — An Israeli government minister canceled a speech in Los Angeles in the face of a protest, in part over what the local Israeli consul described as “bad vibes.”
Ofir Akunis, Israel’s science and technology minister and a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, was due to speak on Tuesday at an event at BioscienceLA, a Los Angeles-area center for life science innovation. He arrived in the country ahead of the Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City on Sunday, where he will march as part of a delegation of Israeli government officials.
An activist movement led by Israeli expatriates who oppose the Israeli government’s proposed weakening of the judiciary, called UnXeptable, has vowed to protest the parade delegation. A local chapter of that movement showed up at the event in L.A. on Tuesday and, like the anti-government street protesters in Israel, chanted “Shame” in Hebrew.
Akunis did not show up for the speech. After the audience waited two hours, Hillel Newman, the Israeli consul general in Los Angeles, announced that the minister would not be speaking.
“I have to apologize on behalf of the minister,” Newman said from the podium. “In the end he decided he’s not coming. He said that he felt that his presence here might cause more provocations of the people outside and the protesters, and he said he didn’t want to bring a bad feeling or bad vibes to anything associated with him and the state of Israel.”
Neither the consulate general nor BioscienceLA responded to requests for comment. Akunis’ office said in a statement that his “successful visit is going as planned.”
“If there is a space for nonviolent arguments about Israel’s internal affairs, it is only in Israel, and as we knew to expect provocations from leftist protesters, we chose not to have them in the international arena,” read the statement, according to Neria Kraus, a reporter for Israeli Channel 13.
UnXeptable has organized protests overseas in solidarity with the mass street protests that have taken place in Israel against the government’s proposed judicial overhaul. Akunis is not the first Israeli government official to cancel a speech to an American audience due to protests. Netanyahu backed out of speaking at a Jewish Federations conference of North American Jewish leaders last month in Tel Aviv because of protests, and the next day, far-right lawmaker Simcha Rothman was repeatedly shouted down at one of the conference panels.
In a statement following Akunis’ cancellation, UnXeptable said, “We’ve started.”
“Whoever tries to destroy Israeli democracy will not enjoy a quiet visit in the United States,” the statement said. “We will be everywhere that they are and we will prevent them from spreading lies.”
—
The post Israeli minister cancels LA speech due to protests and ‘bad vibes’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
Tucker’s Ideas About Jews Come from Darkest Corners of the Internet, Says Huckabee After Combative Interview
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee looks on during the day he visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – In a combative interview with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, right-wing firebrand Tucker Carlson made a host of contentious and often demonstrably false claims that quickly went viral online. Huckabee, who repeatedly challenged the former Fox News star during the interview, subsequently made a long post on X, identifying a pattern of bad-faith arguments, distortions and conspiracies in Carlson’s rhetorical style.
Huckabee pointed out his words were not accorded by Carlson the same degree of attention and curiosity the anchor evinced toward such unsavory characters as “the little Nazi sympathizer Nick Fuentes or the guy who thought Hitler was the good guy and Churchill the bad guy.”
“What I wasn’t anticipating was a lengthy series of questions where he seemed to be insinuating that the Jews of today aren’t really same people as the Jews of the Bible,” Huckabee wrote, adding that Tucker’s obsession with conspiracies regarding the provenance of Ashkenazi Jews obscured the fact that most Israeli Jews were refugees from the Arab and Muslim world.
The idea that Ashkenazi Jews are an Asiatic tribe who invented a false ancestry “gained traction in the 80’s and 90’s with David Duke and other Klansmen and neo-Nazis,” Huckabee wrote. “It has really caught fire in recent years on the Internet and social media, mostly from some of the most overt antisemites and Jew haters you can find.”
Carlson branded Israel “probably the most violent country on earth” and cited the false claim that Israel President Isaac Herzog had visited the infamous island of the late, disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“The current president of Israel, whom I know you know, apparently was at ‘pedo island.’ That’s what it says,” Carlson said, citing a debunked claim made by The Times reporter Gabrielle Weiniger. “Still-living, high-level Israeli officials are directly implicated in Epstein’s life, if not his crimes, so I think you’d be following this.”
Another misleading claim made by Carlson was that there were more Christians in Qatar than in Israel.
Uncategorized
Pezeshkian Says Iran Will Not Bow to Pressure Amid US Nuclear Talks
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025, in Tianjin, China, September 1, 2025. Iran’s Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that his country would not bow its head to pressure from world powers amid nuclear talks with the United States.
“World powers are lining up to force us to bow our heads… but we will not bow our heads despite all the problems that they are creating for us,” Pezeshkian said in a speech carried live by state TV.
Uncategorized
Italy’s RAI Apologizes after Latest Gaffe Targets Israeli Bobsleigh Team
Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics – Bobsleigh – 4-man Heat 1 – Cortina Sliding Centre, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – February 21, 2026. Adam Edelman of Israel, Menachem Chen of Israel, Uri Zisman of Israel, Omer Katz of Israel in action during Heat 1. Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
Italy’s state broadcaster RAI was forced to apologize to the Jewish community on Saturday after an off‑air remark advising its producers to “avoid” the Israeli crew was broadcast before coverage of the Four-Man bobsleigh event at the Winter Olympics.
The head of RAI’s sports division had already resigned earlier in the week after his error-ridden commentary at the Milano Cortina 2026 opening ceremony two weeks ago triggered a revolt among its journalists.
On Saturday, viewers heard “Let’s avoid crew number 21, which is the Israeli one” and then “no, because …” before the sound was cut off.
RAI CEO Giampaolo Rossi said the incident represented a “serious” breach of the principles of impartiality, respect and inclusion that should guide the public broadcaster.
He added that RAI had opened an internal inquiry to swiftly determine any responsibility and any potential disciplinary procedures.
In a separate statement RAI’s board of directors condemned the remark as “unacceptable.”
The board apologized to the Jewish community, the athletes involved and all viewers who felt offended.
RAI is the country’s largest media organization and operates national television, radio and digital news services.
The union representing RAI journalists, Usigrai, had said Paolo Petrecca’s opening ceremony commentary had dealt “a serious blow” to the company’s credibility.
His missteps included misidentifying venues and public figures, and making comments about national teams that were widely criticized.