Connect with us

Uncategorized

Vladimir Kara-Murza, Russian Jewish dissident, sentenced to 25 years in prison for treason

(JTA) – A Russian Jewish dissident whose case has attracted support from human rights groups and prominent Jewish activists was sentenced to 25 years in prison for treason on Monday.

Vladimir Kara-Murza, 41, received the harshest sentence given to a critic of the Kremlin in the 14 months since Russia first invaded Ukraine. The charges were handed down roughly a year after Kara-Murza had accused Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine during a speech to the Arizona state legislature. The charges included discrediting the Russian military and spreading “knowingly false information” about its actions in Ukraine.

Kara-Murza’s sentence came after years of tensions between him and Putin’s government that recently culminated in his urging for the West to impose sanctions on Russia as punishment for its war in Ukraine. He has been poisoned twice and has blamed the Kremlin for both instances, while the government has denied its involvement. 

When Kara-Murza heard the sentence, his lawyer told the BBC, he took it as a sign of the effectiveness of his criticism. “My self-esteem even rose,” the lawyer quoted Kara-Murza as saying. “I realized I’d been doing everything right.”

The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, a Canada-based consortium of human rights NGOs named after the diplomat who rescued 100,000 Jews during the Holocaust, and where Kara-Murza is a senior fellow, condemned his sentencing on Twitter and called the charges a “sham.” 

“His unlawful imprisonment cannot go unanswered,” the center said in a statement. “We must not relent until Vladimir is free. His wife and children need him free. Russia needs him free. The world needs him free.”

Former Soviet Jewish dissident Natan Sharansky, who met in the past with Kara-Murza, has also condemned Russia’s treatment of him. Sharansky spent nine years in Soviet prison due to his activism, and recently told the Times of Israel that Kara-Murza’s prosecution was “evidence that Russia has returned to Stalinist times.” One of the items Kara-Murza has been allowed to keep in prison is a copy of “Fear No Evil,” Sharansky’s 1988 memoir about his time in the gulag. 

“Putin’s case against Vladimir Kara-Murza is a case against democracy, human rights and civil society in Russia,” Sharansky tweeted last week. “All of us who want to see Russia shed its current dictatorial path and the shadow it casts over Europe, must stand with Kara-Murza today.”

Former Canadian Attorney General Irwin Cotler, who is Jewish, has also come to Kara-Murza’s defense, saying in a statement, “Vladimir’s conviction represents the criminalization of freedom in Putin’s Russia and is a conviction of the country’s corrupt courts.”

Leon Aron, another Russian Jewish advocate for Kara-Murza who serves as a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, wrote in Politico that “Only Putin’s death can free my friend Vladimir.” In 2017, Aron had asserted in the Jewish publication Mosaic that Putin was not explicitly antisemitic, but warned that he would “almost certainly” begin indulging in antisemitism “after an embarrassing military defeat.”

The day after Kara-Murza’s sentence was handed down, a Russian court denied release to Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, the American son of Soviet Jewish refugees. Gershkovich was arrested on espionage charges last month and could face up to 20 years in prison; his detention has been widely condemned by Western officials and organizations as an attack on press freedom, and Jewish groups have rallied to his defense. Analysts believe Gershkovich was targeted by the Kremlin for his reporting on its invasion of Ukraine.


The post Vladimir Kara-Murza, Russian Jewish dissident, sentenced to 25 years in prison for treason appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

UK Police Investigate Security Incident Near London’s Israeli Embassy

A Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) car. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

British police said on Friday ​they were investigating a security incident near the Israeli embassy in London after a group reported ‌online that it had targeted the premises with drones carrying “dangerous substances.”

Matt Jukes, the head of counterterrorism at London police, said there were no signs the embassy had been attacked, but officers in protective clothing were assessing “discarded items” found near the building.

The embassy said in a statement ​all its staff were safe.

COUNTERTERRORISM POLICE INVESTIGATE

“Counter Terrorism Policing London are aware of a video shared online ​overnight in which a group claim to have targeted the nearby embassy of Israel with ⁠drones carrying dangerous substances,” Jukes said in a televised statement.

“And whilst we can confirm that the embassy has not ​been attacked, we’re carrying out urgent inquiries to determine the authenticity of the video and to identify any potential link ​between it and the items discarded in Kensington Gardens.”

The pro-Iranian group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya, or Movement of the Companions of the Right Hand of Islam, had posted a video which included footage of drones along with two figures dressed in protective clothing and a message ​that the Israeli embassy was being targeted.

The group has claimed responsibility for a spate of attacks across Europe on ​US, Israeli, and Jewish targets, including an arson attack which destroyed several ambulances belonging to the Jewish volunteer emergency service Hatzola which ‌were parked ⁠near a synagogue in the Golders Green area of north London.

Jukes said the police presence had been stepped up and cordons had been put in place, meaning there was no public access to Kensington Gardens and the surrounding area.

“We do not believe there to be any increased public safety risk at this time, and we would urge people, nonetheless, to ​avoid the area while officers ​carry out their work,” ⁠Jukes said.

The Israeli embassy said in a statement that a suspected security incident was being investigated in an adjacent park.

“We wish to clarify that all embassy staff are safe and ​that the embassy was not attacked,” it said. “As always we remain in close and ​continuous contact with ⁠the local authorities.”

It was the latest in a number of incidents involving the embassy and Jewish sites in the British capital since the ambulances were torched last month.

Earlier this week, two suspects were arrested over an attempted arson attack on a synagogue in ⁠north ​London.

In March, two men were charged with being tasked by Iran to carry ​out hostile surveillance on the Israeli embassy and other Jewish targets, while earlier this week a man from Kuwait went on trial accused of planning a ​terrorist attack on the embassy.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Kanye West Concert in Poland Will Be Canceled, Venue Says

Kanye West walking on the red carpet during the 67th Grammy Awards held at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA on Feb. 2, 2025. Photo: Elyse Jankowski/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

A Polish stadium said on Friday that it will cancel a concert by US rapper Kanye West days after he postponed a show in France amid a furor over his past antisemitic comments and celebration of Nazism.

“We would like to inform you that the Ye [Kanye West] concert planned for 19 June 2026 at the … Slaski stadium will not take place due to formal and legal reasons,” stadium director Adam Strzyzewski said in a statement posted on Facebook.

The decision by the Slaski stadium in the western city of Chorzow, first reported by Wyborcza newspaper on its website, comes just over a week after Britain blocked the 48-year-old from traveling there to headline a festival.

There was no immediate comment from the rapper, now known as Ye, who in January apologized for his behavior, which he attributed to untreated bipolar disorder, and renounced past expressions of admiration for Adolf Hitler.

Authorities in Poland had already signaled they would seek to ban the planned June 19 concert.

“In a country scarred by the history of the Holocaust, we cannot pretend that this is just entertainment,” Polish Culture Minister Marta Cienkowska said on Thursday.

More than 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, were murdered at the Auschwitz death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II. Nazi Germany killed more than 3 million of Poland‘s 3.2 million Jewish population.

Ye was barred from Australia last year after releasing a song promoting Nazism and advertising swastika T-shirts on his website.

He has performed in the United States and Mexico City this year, with further concerts planned in Europe and Asia.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Iran Says Hormuz Strait Open After Lebanon Truce, Trump Expects Iran Deal ‘Soon’

An Iranian flag lies amidst the rubble of a building of the Sharif University of Technology, which was damaged in a strike, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, April 7, 2026. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the Strait of Hormuz was open following a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, while US President Donald Trump said talks could take place this weekend and he believed a deal to end the Iran war would come “soon.”

Araqchi said in a post on X the Strait was open for all commercial vessels for the remainder of the US-brokered 10-day truce agreed on Thursday between Israel and Lebanon to halt fighting between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Trump told Reuters on Friday that the US will work with Iran to recover its enriched uranium and bring it back to the United States as part of any deal.

US-Israeli strikes on Iran began on Feb. 28, triggering Iranian attacks on Gulf neighbors and reigniting the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon.

Thousands have been killed and the conflict effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz – through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually transits – threatening the worst oil shock in history.

OIL PRICES TUMBLE, STOCKS JUMP

Oil prices fell more than 10%, extending earlier losses after Araqchi’s post. Global stocks, already trading near record highs, jumped further on the news.

Major shipping companies reacted more cautiously, signaling it may take more time for traffic through the chokepoint to return to normal levels – about 130 ships a day before the war.

Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd said it would refrain from passing through the strait while it assessed the announcement. The Norwegian Shipowners’ Association said several issues needed clarification, including the possible presence of sea mines.

The US Navy warned in an advisory to seafarers that the mine threat in parts of the waterway was not fully understood and avoidance of the area should be considered.

A senior Iranian official said ships could pass through the Strait only under coordination with Iran‘s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

After a video conference on Friday, more than a dozen countries said they were willing to join an international mission to protect shipping in the Strait when conditions permit, Britain said.

US BLOCKADE REMAINS IN PLACE

Shortly after Araqchi’s statement, Trump posted on Truth Social: “IRAN HAS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE STRAIT OF IRAN IS FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR PASSAGE.”

However, he said the US military blockade of ships sailing through the Strait to Iranian ports – announced after talks with Iran last weekend in Islamabad ended without agreement – would remain until “our transaction with Iran is 100% complete.”

An Iranian official later told Fars news agency Tehran would consider the Strait‘s continued blockade by US forces a violation of the ceasefire and would again close the waterway.

Trump told Reuters on Friday there could probably be more talks this weekend. Some diplomats said that was looking unlikely given the logistics of assembling officials in the Pakistani capital, where the talks are expected to take place.

DIPLOMACY PROGRESS

A Pakistani source involved in mediating between the US and Iran said there was progress in backdoor diplomacy and that an upcoming meeting could result in the signing of a memorandum of understanding, followed by a comprehensive deal within 60 days.

“Both sides are agreeing in principle. And technical bits come later,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters there had been an agreement on unfreezing billions of dollars in Iranian assets, as part of the accord to reopen the Strait, without giving a timeline.

One key sticking point has been Tehran’s nuclear program. At last weekend’s talks, the US proposed a 20-year suspension of all Iranian nuclear activity, while Iran suggested a halt of three to five years, according to people familiar with the proposals.

Iran has demanded the lifting of international sanctions, while Washington has pressed for any highly enriched uranium to be removed from Iran. Two Iranian sources have said there were signs of a compromise on the HEU stockpile, with Tehran considering shipping part of it out of the country.

Trump told Reuters the US would bring Iran‘s enriched uranium back to the United States. “We’re going to go in with Iran, at a nice leisurely pace, and go down and start excavating with big machinery … We’ll bring it back to the United States,” he said during a phone interview.

He mentioned “nuclear dust,” a reference to what he believes remains after the United States and Israel bombed Iran‘s nuclear installations in June last year.

Despite Trump‘s optimism, Iranian sources told Reuters on Friday that “gaps remained to be resolved” before reaching a preliminary deal, while senior clerics struck a defiant tone during Friday prayers.

In Tehran, cleric Ahmad Khatami said: “Our people do not negotiate while being humiliated,” while in Isfahan, the imam said: “We did not accept the terms proposed by the other party.”

In Islamabad, troops were deployed along routes into the capital on Friday, though roads remained open and the government had not ordered business closures, as it did ahead of the previous meeting.

LEBANON CEASEFIRE GOES INTO EFFECT

The US-backed ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah appeared to be largely holding on Friday, despite Lebanese Army reports of some Israeli violations. Paramedics said an Israeli drone strike killed one person in southern Lebanon.

The conflict was reignited on March 2 when Hezbollah opened fire on Israel in support of Tehran, prompting an Israeli offensive.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the reported ceasefire violations on Friday.

Continue Reading

Copyright © 2017 - 2023 Jewish Post & News