Jerusalem’s Sephardic chief rabbi, Shlomo Amar, has been criticized for saying that the recent earthquake aftershocks in Israel were caused by the country’s decision to give the LGBTQIA+ community rights and freedoms.
Rabbi blames Israel earthquakes on LGBTQ+ community: ‘God said you are shocking your people’ https://t.co/rPqkl8iSjy
An Israeli woman was arrested last Sunday after conducting a protest where she stripped down to a bathing suit at the Western Wall in response to a bill that could criminalize immodesty at the holy site.
The 35-year-old woman’s name was not released to the public, but she was identified as a central Jerusalem resident. According to reports, the woman removed her clothes after entering the women’s section of the Western Wall with her two-piece swimsuit and sneakers remaining.
Israel’s far-right finance minister and deputy speaker of Israel’s parliament Bezalel Smotrich outed himself as a fascist homophobe but said he won’t stone gay people to death or eat shrimp.
Israel's far-right finance minister: 'I'm a fascist homophobe but... I won't stone gays' https://t.co/XZxikjeZIX
The Black Hebrew Israelites, a fringe religion, once again made headlines in the US at the end of 2022. The group is composed of different sects which essentially agree that African Americans are the direct descendants of the Biblical Israelites.
In the latest viral video, the group was marching in support of Kyrie Irving, returning from an eight-game suspension by the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Brooklyn Nets. Irving received his suspension after posting a link to a documentary by a Hebrew Israelite, which is perceived as antisemitic.
Israeli politician and incoming minister, Orit Strook, caused concern with recent anti-LGBT comments. Belonging to Benjamin Netanyahu's new government, Strook has suggested that Israeli doctors should be allowed to refuse treatment to LGBTQ patients, alluding to religious differences.
Twenty-five-year-old Ahmad Hacham Hamdi Abu Marakhia left for work on October 5 and never returned home. Instead, his beheaded and dismembered body was seen in horrific videos circulating in Palestinian territories and Jordan.
On September 5, during a Brit Mila in Israel, a Jewish ritual circumcision went horribly wrong, and the botched procedure resulted in complex surgery. The Mohel that performed the circumcision was later found to be uncertified and without adequate training.
Many smartphone stores in Israel have been attacked. With store property damaged and customers assaulted, riots broke out in the country. The religious leaders of the Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, the "Haredi," are agitated as non- "Kosher" smartphones are now readily available in the country.
Jewish activists dress up as Muslims to circumvent the prayer ban in the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Sunni Islam's third holiest site. Swapping their Jewish clothes for a thobe, also called a dishdasha or jalabiya, these activists defy the delicate agreement between Israel and Jordan.
The same site where the mosque sits is considered the holiest site in Judaism.
On Friday, November 5, hundreds of ultra-orthodox Haredi Jews converged at the Western Wall. The group was protesting a group of women that held monthly prayers within the Western Wall. For decades, the Neshot Hakotel or the Women of the Wall have been campaigning against ultra-orthodox Jews who oppose changes in the holy site and want to maintain separate areas for men and women.
