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NY federation CEO offers rare criticism of Israel’s right-wing government
(New York Jewish Week) — The head of North American’s largest Jewish federation made the rare step of criticizing proposed legislation by Israel’s government and “imploring” its prime minister to shelve it.
In an email sent Friday to supporters of the UJA-Federation of New York, its CEO, Eric Goldstein, wrote that he is “alarmed” by recent judicial reforms introduced by Israel’s newly installed justice minister. The reforms, a priority of what has been described as the most right-wing government in Israeli history, would allow Israel’s parliament to override decisions by the Supreme Court and further politicize the selection of its justices.
“The current proposed legislation raises dramatic concerns,” wrote Goldstein, an attorney who was named to head UJA-Federation in 2014. “It eviscerates the role of the judiciary by allowing Supreme Court decisions to be struck down by the barest majority of the Knesset — undermining the very foundations of Israel’s democracy and subjecting all minority groups to the tyranny of the majority.”
“I respectfully implore” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make good on previous pledges that he would block laws that threatened the independence of Israel’s justice system, wrote Goldstein.
Jewish federations — umbrella philanthropies that are set up to serve the range of Jewish denominations and political expressions — seldom publicly criticize the Israeli government, whose social service sector is among their biggest beneficiaries. Goldstein acknowledged as much in his letter, writing that “many insiders advised that off-the-record conversations with senior government officials would be more productive than strident public pronouncements.” (UJA-Federation is a funder of 70 Faces Media, the New York Jewish Week’s parent company.)
In his message, Goldstein is careful to note his pro-Israel bona fides, noting that two of his four children immigrated to Israel and now live in Tel Aviv, including one serving in the Israeli military. And after acknowledging complaints on Israel’s right that the Supreme Court had grown less accountable to the Israeli public, Goldstein wrote, “Judicial reform can be achieved without threatening the fundamental democratic character of Israel.”
Israel’s new right-wing government has sent waves of anxiety through the leadership of America’s largest Jewish organizations, who worry that liberal-leaning rank-and-file Jews will become alienated from an Israeli government that includes far-right ideologues like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. Last month, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism — representing American Judaism’s largest denomination— wrote that the “extremist political agenda of this new government is profoundly distressing, representing radical policy shifts that are antithetical to the core values of liberal Jews.”
Read more from our CEO, Eric S. Goldstein, on the challenge of proposed judicial reform in Israel. https://t.co/q43KdUVyFP pic.twitter.com/L0mxe7LHBU
— UJA-Federation of New York (@UJAfedNY) January 20, 2023
Goldstein addressed concerns over alienation in his letter. “[T]here’s an instinct among some in our community to turn their back on Israel in moments of serious disagreement. But cutting ties or support for Israel is precisely the wrong response,” he wrote. “To the contrary, this is the moment to engage even more, using all the means at our disposal to help sustain a Jewish and democratic Israel.”
To that end, Goldstein wrote that UJA’s Israel office and the Forum of Foundations in Israel are meeting with “dozens” of Israeli philanthropies “to think together about shared strategies for addressing the current moment… and to discuss joint funding initiatives to counter the impact of potential new governmental policies and legislation.”
Representing often fractious communities, especially on Israeli domestic affairs, federations try to avoid political statements or positions. One of the few exceptions has been a decades-long, often public disagreement over policies in Israel that appear to discriminate against the non-Orthodox religious denominations, which represent a majority of affiliated American Jews.
But Goldstein said his concerns over the judicial reforms are consistent with the federations’ support for various causes that some think will be undermined by the new Israeli government’s policies. “We’ve long invested in programs and nonprofits that amplify diverse voices and work to build bridges of understanding, helping to create spaces for all the tribes of Israel — Secular, Haredi, Arab, LGBTQ+, Ethiopian, and more,” he wrote.
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The post NY federation CEO offers rare criticism of Israel’s right-wing government appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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TikTok Removes Videos by Antisemitic Polish Lawmaker After Hate Speech Complaint
Grzegorz Braun, member of far-right political alliance Confederation, speaks during a session at the Parliament in Warsaw, Poland, Dec. 12, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Aleksandra Szmigiel
TikTok has removed six videos posted by a Polish far–right politician best known for provoking international outrage by using a fire extinguisher on Hanukkah candles in the country’s parliament, an anti-racism organization said on Wednesday.
Once viewed by many Poles as a fringe extremist, Grzegorz Braun has become an increasingly important figure in right-wing politics, with his Confederation of the Polish Crown party regularly polling in double digits.
Those numbers could give it a say in the formation of a future coalition, but Braun’s antisemitism and aggressive social media stunts have led the government to say his party may be banned, while the leader of opposition nationalists Law and Justice (PiS) has ruled out working with him.
Rafal Pankowski, from the “Never Again” Association, which advises social media companies on eliminating hate speech and flagged the videos to TikTok, said the films, including one about the Hanukkah candles, were just the “tip of the iceberg.”
“There is simply a whole lot of such material, such content, which is evidently saturated with hostility, primarily towards Jews and often also towards various other minorities … I think that the worst thing in all this is that there is this element of glorification, incitement to violence,” he said.
TikTok confirmed that it had removed certain videos for violating its rules on hate speech.
A spokesperson for the Confederation of the Polish Crown did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Braun has said he is trying to protect predominantly Catholic Poland from the influence of Jews and Ukrainians.
Pankowski said the “Never Again” Association had reported more of Braun’s films to TikTok.
From launching into an antisemitic tirade outside the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, where Nazi Germany killed more than 1.1 million Jews, to tearing down Ukrainian flags or demolishing exhibitions about LGBT rights, Braun’s actions have outraged many Poles but have also generated significant publicity.
Braun, a Member of the European Parliament, has had his immunity from prosecution lifted by the legislature. Polish prosecutors have charged him with seven offences including public disorder and offending religious sentiments.
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Clashes in Syria’s Aleppo Deepen Rift Between Government, Kurdish Forces
A woman carries her child as she flees, following renewed clashes between the Syrian army and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Aleppo, Syria, Jan. 7, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Karam al-Masri
Fierce fighting in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo between government forces and Kurdish fighters drove thousands of civilians from their homes on Wednesday, with Washington reported to be mediating a de-escalation.
The violence, and statements trading blame over who started it, signaled that a stalemate between Damascus and Kurdish authorities that have resisted integrating into the central government was deepening and growing deadlier.
Deadly clashes broke out on Tuesday between Syrian government troops and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
After relative calm overnight, shelling resumed on Wednesday and intensified in the afternoon, Reuters reporters in the city said.
A spokesperson for Aleppo‘s health directorate told Reuters that four civilians had been killed on Tuesday and more than two dozen wounded on Tuesday and Wednesday. Security sources separately told Reuters that two fighters had also been killed.
The health directorate said there were no civilian fatalities on Wednesday, and that it was not authorized to comment on deaths among fighters.
By Wednesday evening, fighting had subsided, the Reuters reporters said. Ilham Ahmed, who heads the foreign affairs department of the Kurdish administration, told Reuters that international mediation efforts were underway to de-escalate. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters the US was mediating.
THOUSANDS OF CIVILIANS FLEE
The directorate for social affairs said on Wednesday night that more than 45,000 people had been displaced from Aleppo city, most of them heading northwest towards the enclave of Afrin.
The Syrian army announced that military positions in the Kurdish-held neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyah were “legitimate military targets.” Two Syrian security officials told Reuters that they expected a significant military operation in the city.
The government opened humanitarian corridors for civilians to flee flashpoint neighborhoods, ferrying them out on city buses.
“We move them safely to the places they want to go to according to their desire or to displaced shelters,” said Faisal Mohammad Ali, operations chief of the civil defense force in Aleppo.
The latest fighting has disrupted civilian life in what is a leading Syrian city, closing the airport and a highway to Turkey, halting operations at factories in an industrial zone and paralyzing major roads into the city center.
The Damascus government said its forces were responding to rocket fire, drone attacks, and shelling from Kurdish-held neighborhoods. Kurdish forces said they held Damascus “fully and directly responsible for … the dangerous escalation that threatens the lives of thousands of civilians and undermines stability in the city.”
During Syria’s 14-year civil war, Kurdish authorities began running a semi-autonomous zone in northeast Syria, as well as in parts of Aleppo city.
They have been reluctant to give up those zones and integrate fully into the Islamist-led government that took over after ex-President Bashar al-Assad’s ousting in late 2024.
Last year, the Damascus government reached a deal with the SDF that envisaged a full integration by the end of 2025, but the two sides have made little progress, each accusing the other of stalling or acting in bad faith.
The US has stepped in as a mediator, holding meetings as recently as Sunday to try to nudge the process forward. Sunday’s meetings ended with no tangible progress.
Failure to integrate the SDF into Syria’s army risks further violence and could potentially draw in Turkey, which has threatened an incursion against Kurdish fighters it views as terrorists.
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Israel-Backed Militia Says It Killed Two Hamas Operatives in Gaza
Palestinian Hamas terrorists stand guard at a site as Hamas says it continues to search for the bodies of deceased hostages, in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, Dec. 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
An Israeli-backed Palestinian militia said on Wednesday it had killed two Hamas operatives in southern Gaza, marking a renewed challenge to Hamas after Israel empowered its rivals in areas under Israeli military control.
The armed group, known as the Popular Forces, said in a statement it had carried out a raid in Rafah, killing two Hamas members who refused to surrender and detaining a third. It shared a photo that it said depicted one of the slain men.
Hamas, which brands such groups as “collaborators,” declined to comment on the claim, which Reuters couldn’t independently authenticate. Rafah sits in territory under Israeli control under the terms of an October Israel–Hamas deal.
The Popular Forces, founded by an anti-Hamas armed Bedouin leader, Yasser Abu Shabab, is believed to be the largest group operating in Israel-controlled areas.
Abu Shabab was killed in December in what the group described as a family feud. He was replaced by his deputy Ghassan Duhine, who vowed not to let up in the fight against Hamas, the terrorist group that has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades. The Popular Forces and others have reported more recruits since the October deal took effect.
The emergence of the groups, though they remain small and localized, has added to pressures on Islamist Hamas and could complicate efforts to stabilize and unify a divided Gaza, shattered by two years of war.
Nearly all of Gaza‘s two million people live in Hamas-held areas, where the group has been reestablishing its grip and where four Hamas sources said it continues to command thousands of men despite suffering heavy blows during the war.
But Israel still holds well over half of Gaza – areas where Hamas‘s foes operate beyond its reach. With US President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza moving slowly, there is no immediate prospect of further Israeli withdrawals.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Israeli backing for anti-Hamas groups in June, saying Israel had “activated” clans. Israel has given little detail since then.
The Popular Forces deny receiving support from Israel.