New York’s state Young Republicans organization has been disbanded in the wake of leaked group chats in which officials joked about gas chambers, praised Adolf Hitler and used racist, antisemitic and homophobic slurs. 

“The Young Republicans was already grossly mismanaged, and vile language of the sort made in the group chat has no place in our party or its subsidiary organizations,” New York GOP chair Ed Cox said in a statement, adding that he sent formal notice of the shutdown to the National Federation of Young Republicans.

Earlier this week, the Kansas Young Republicans club was also dissolved. The moves are meant to allow for a fresh start for the Republican Party’s youth wing in those states following a Politico exposé that published thousands of messages involving participants in multiple states.

Of them, several participants had ties to New York Republican politics. Since the reporting, some involved lost jobs or had political opportunities withdrawn.

The scandal has also fueled partisan squabbling. Amid the fallout, the Republican Jewish Coalition posted on X in response to Sen. Chuck Schumer’s criticism of GOP “silence,” writing: “We strongly condemn the comments and those involved should step aside. See how easy that is?” 

The post then turned into a political attack: “Your turn @SenSchumer: condemn Jay Jones, Zohran Mamdani, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and more, in your deranged, radicalized party. You won’t. Enjoy the political wilderness in the meantime!”

Republican leaders have largely denounced the messages with House Speaker Mike Johnson saying the party “roundly condemn[s]” them. Vice President J.D. Vance, however, downplayed the uproar, saying “kids do stupid things” and calling the jokes “very offensive” but not worthy of life-ruining consequences.

The people involved are largely in their 20s, and the Young Republicans aim to engage conservatives between 18 and 40.

A Palestinian man in Louisiana was arrested Thursday after federal prosecutors accused him of participating in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.

Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub Al-Muhtadi, 33, a Palestinian resident of Lafayette, Louisiana, is accused of being an operative for the National Resistance Brigades, a Gaza-based paramilitary group that took part in the Oct. 7 attacks.

“After hiding out in the United States, this monster has been found and charged with participating in the atrocities of October 7 — the single deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.

The government’s case against Al-Muhtadi appears to represent the first arrest on U.S. soil of anyone alleged to have participated in the deadly 2023 attack, in which 1,200 people in Israel, most civilians, were killed and 251 people were taken hostage.

On that day, after Al-Muhtadi learned of the attacks, he allegedly “armed himself, recruited additional marauders, and then entered Israel,” according to a statement by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg.

According to transcripts of cell phone calls Al-Muhtadi allegedly made that morning, he told another man to “get ready” and that “the borders are open,” and later requested a “full magazine.”

Al-Muhtadi’s phone also used a cell tower located near Kibbutz Kfar Aza in Israel, where at least 62 residents were killed and 19 were taken hostage during the attacks, according to court documents.

He entered the United States on Sept. 12, 2024, after allegedly providing false information on his U.S. visa application to immigration authorities, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

A criminal complaint against Al-Muhtadi was filed on Oct. 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, on the eve of the second anniversary of the attack. He was charged with providing, attempting to provide or conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization as well as visa fraud, according to the criminal complaint.

The arrest comes as the U.S. government seeks legal redress against those who perpetrated the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, which included U.S. citizens among the victims. In September 2024, the Justice Department also filed charges against six Hamas officials, including Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar shortly before he was killed in Gaza by the Israeli military.

Bondi established the Joint Task Force October 7, which the Justice Department is calling JTF 10-7, in February 2025 to investigate the attacks. The task force discovered Al-Muhtadi’s presence in the United States, according to the Justice Department’s press release, and JTF 10-7 and the FBI New Orleans Field Office are now investigating the case along with Israeli authorities.

Far-right British agitator Tommy Robinson, known for his anti-Muslim rhetoric and leadership of the now-defunct extremist British Defense League, is in Israel this week on the invitation of Israeli Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli.

Together, Robinson and Chikli toured the site of the Nova music festival massacre, explored Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market on Friday morning and met with a prominent anti-immigration activist, Sheffi Paz, in Tel Aviv.

Robinson has been at the forefront of Britain’s anti-immigration movement and has also been imprisoned five times in the last 20 years for fraud, drug offenses and libeling a 15-year-old Syrian refugee. In 2023, he was arrested for attending a march against antisemitism against the wishes of the march’s Jewish organizers.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, the largest Jewish organization in the United Kingdom, decried Chikli’s invitation in a post on X last week.

“Tommy Robinson is a thug who represents the very worst of Britain. His presence undermines those genuinely working to tackle Islamist extremism and foster community cohesion,” the group said. “Minister Chikli has proven himself to be a Diaspora Minister in name only. In our darkest hour, he has ignored the views of the vast majority of British Jews, who utterly and consistently reject Robinson and everything he stands for.”

Chikli pushed back on the Board of Deputies’ assessment, and accused them of becoming “openly aligned with left-wing, woke, pro-Palestinian parties.” (In August, the group called for a rapid increase in Gaza aid months after previously disciplining its members for signing an open letter condemning the war in Gaza.)

Now, after arriving in Israel Wednesday, Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, used the opportunity to take aim at U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“I’ve arrived in the beautiful nation of Israel 🇮🇱,” wrote Robinson, who is not Jewish, in a post on X. “A country with strong, patriotic leadership in @netanyahu and his party. Unlike the weak and cowardly @Keir_Starmer and his party of wrong’uns in the UK.”

Chikli has long associated himself with far-right activists and politicians in Europe, with whom he shares an interest in opposing Muslim immigration. Earlier this year, he stirred controversy by inviting far-right leaders from Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and France to speak at Israel’s International Conference on Combating Antisemitism.

On Thursday, Robinson posted an interview clip with Chikli where he asked the minister whether he believed Britain will “have to experience its own Oct. 7” in order to “realize that these terror organizations must be stopped.”

“I really hope you shouldn’t, but in order to make sure it will never happen, you need all other set of tools to address this challenge, and you need to be far, far more decisive, far, far more aggressive, and to understand that it most likely, it won’t go smooth and it won’t go quietly,” Chikli answered. “But if you won’t do it, I’m not sure there’s going to be Britain.”

Robinson posted videos showing shoppers approaching him and Chikli in Mahane Yehuda to express their support, and their opposition to U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who recently recognized an independent Palestinian state over the objections of the organized Jewish community in Britain and the Israeli government.

“Despite @BoardofDeputies saying I wasn’t welcome, the residents of Jerusalem welcomed me with open arms,” Robinson wrote.

This article was produced as part of the New York Jewish Week’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teens around New York City to report on issues that affect their lives.

As a high school senior, the stress of college applications, homework and the looming end of childhood leaves me constantly waiting for Sundays. That’s the day I get to put on my khaki Tzofim, or Israeli Scouts, uniform — covered with pins, patches and signatures — and head to Manhattan’s East Side. 

There, in a rented room in a Catholic school, is where I feel most grounded. There, I’m surrounded by people that understand the duality of being both American and Israeli, something that my born-and-raised American friends simply couldn’t understand. When I’m at a Tzofim meeting, surrounded by Israeli-American teens from across the city, the complexity of that dual identity doesn’t seem so complex.

Tzofim has been my refuge since shortly after the horrific events of Oct. 7, 2023. One bright November morning, just a few weeks after the attack, I was in my AP World History class, discussing nationalities and the role they play in history. My teacher decided to pick me as an example, pointing out to the class that my nationality is Israeli.

My classmates glared at me with newfound judgment. Suddenly, the labels I had always cherished — Israeli, Zionist, Jew — were no longer affirmations of pride. Instead, they felt like accusations, heavy with opinions and suspicion.

For the first time in my seven years of living in New York, I felt completely alone. 

Two weeks later, I attended my first Tzofim activity. The meeting took place in a modest community space near Union Square, the room was filled with chatter, music and rows of teens in uniforms just like mine. Surrounded by peers who had similar fears about being judged for their Jewish and Israeli identities, I felt understood. I didn’t have to explain or defend who I was. 

Founded in Israel in 1919 and brought to the United States more than 25 years ago, the Tzofim is a youth-led movement modeled loosely on the World Scouting Movement, but with a focus on Israeli culture and Jewish identity. It serves kids and teens ages 7 through 18 and emphasizes leadership, service and community. 

Our New York chapter, Shevet Tapuach, meets weekly for programs that mix cultural education, team-building activities and discussions about Jewish identity and current events. Teens take on leadership roles: guiding younger scouts, organizing events and shaping the direction of the chapter.

After Oct. 7, participation in Shevet Tapuach surged — membership grew from 180 to more than 330 participants, according to our chapter head, Michal Poran. The teen division alone nearly doubled, from 54 to 95. What was once one of the smallest chapters in the U.S. became a thriving hub of Jewish teen life in New York.

This growth reflected a larger shift in post-Oct. 7 Jewish life: Many teens who had once felt only loosely connected to their Jewish or Israeli identity began seeking out safe spaces where they could feel seen and supported. In response, our chapter opened its doors more widely. What had previously been an Israeli-centered environment became a place where Jewish teens of all backgrounds could find belonging.

Poran called this shift a “rebranding,” sparked by the war in Israel. “We wanted to make this a community and a home for all Jews, a place to feel included, even if you’re not Israeli,” she told me. 

Emma Navoth, an 18-year-old leader who has been in Tzofim since second grade, told me she’s watched the chapter transform. “So many teens who never thought about joining before are coming now,” she said. “People want a place where they feel safe and supported. For me, Tzofim has always been that, now it’s that for even more people.”

Another member, Liya Blinderman, explained that after Oct. 7, she realized that comfort couldn’t be found in the routines of school or casual hangouts with friends. What she needed was a community that understood what it felt like to wake up to news from Israel every morning, or to have family conversations constantly circle back to the war. “It became a meaningful outlet for me,” she told me. “A place where I could grow, connect, and give back. The support here isn’t just organizational, it’s deeply human.”

For these Jewish and Israeli teens in New York — myself included — the Scouts have become more than just an extracurricular activity. They’re an entry point into a longstanding tradition of leadership and resilience. Weekly meetings teach us not only about Israeli history and Jewish culture, but about standing strong in times of adversity. 

As the new school year begins, I’m excited to see our group continue to grow — welcoming new members, planning community events, and finding new ways to speak up and support one another. For me, Tzofim isn’t just a reminder of who I am; it’s a way to shape who I want to become.

A group of Jewish leaders are fed up with right-wing efforts to combat antisemitism. So they created their own strategy.

The Shofar Report, released this week by the liberal-leaning Jewish group Nexus Project, is a new guide to fighting antisemitism that its authors say is intended to curb the strategies of the Trump administration. The new report was written explicitly as a rebuttal to Project Esther, a 2024 blueprint against antisemitism written by the conservative Heritage Foundation that outlined many policies now undertaken by the Trump administration, particularly on campuses.

“Project Esther was not a strategy for fighting antisemitism,” Jonathan Jacoby, the Nexus Project’s president, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in an interview. “Project Esther is the Heritage Foundation’s tool for implementing Project 2025” — referring to a now-infamous policy blueprint for a second Trump term.

What Trump and his supporters are actually doing, Jacoby said, is “weaponizing antisemitism.” Conversely, he said, that is bad for the Jews: “Weaponizing antisemitism breeds antisemitism. Weaponizing antisemitism undermines efforts to confront antisemitism.”

In response, the Shofar Report — released during the High Holidays in an effort to mimic a shofar blast as a wake-up call to Jews — calls for policymakers to wind back the clock. Many of its own recommendations for fighting antisemitism involve undoing Trump’s handiwork, along with some new proposals. Slashing university funding, arresting and deporting student protesters, blocking student visas and tying synagogue security funding to immigration enforcement are all steps the new report says must be reversed to properly fight antisemitism.

Its central message: that fighting antisemitism requires fighting for democratic institutions and embracing traditional liberal coalition-building. Universities, civil rights law, and immigration rights all must be protected in order to safeguard Jews within a liberal democracy, the authors argue.

That could prove a challenge, as many Jews have felt scorned by a lack of allyship from such coalitions and institutions after Oct. 7. Some of the more combative Jewish groups, such as Betar US and Canary Mission, not only support Trump’s policies but are actively aiding them by naming pro-Palestinian protesters for the administration to target.

Jacoby acknowledged that Jewish appetites for coalition-building are lower now. But, he insisted, “Those coalitions are what we need to be strong in order to fight antisemitism.”

“Jewish safety is of utmost importance and must be protected,” he said. “There’s no substitute for that. We need to build on that, and understand how we can create an infrastructure, a civil and community infrastructure, that supports that, and that complements that. And that’s where coalitions come in, and that’s where institutions come in, and that’s where education comes in.” 

The report’s authors speak highly of the Biden administration’s own, now-abandoned plan for countering antisemitism after Oct. 7, which had identified the problem in terms of civil rights. They seek a return to what Jacoby called a “precedent for listening to Jewish voices about this” after Project Esther, the majority of whose contributors were not Jewish.

Contributors to the Shofar Report include Amy Spitalnick, head of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs; J Street CEO Jeremy Ben-Ami and UCLA professor Dov Waxman; New Israel Fund president David N. Myers; prominent Jewish academic Lila Corwin Berman; Hannah Rosenthal, a former U.S. envoy for combatting antisemitism under the Obama administration; and author Emily Tamkin. 

Among other recommendations are a push for rollbacks on Trump’s antisemitism policies. The report calls for education funding, student visas and civil rights enforcement to be restored; for the administration to stop accusing nonprofits and NGOs of supporting terror; and for nonprofit security grants, which fund synagogue security plans, to not be “beholden to an administration’s ideological whims on issues like diversity or immigration.” 

In this respect, the Shofar Report is following what appears to be the majority of American Jewish opinion. According to recent polling by Ipsos, the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Rochester, 72% of American Jews believe Trump is using antisemitism as an “excuse” to punish universities, and two-thirds don’t believe antisemitism justifies cutting university funding.

“As Jewish Americans struggle with hatred, even alienation from the Israeli state, they discover a slippery president who exploits a true danger,” that study’s authors, James Druckman and Bruce Fuller, wrote in an op-ed this week for the Chicago Tribune. “Trump erodes the very institutions that have long provided safety, learning and upward mobility for Jewish families — all the while claiming that he’s protecting Jews.”

Not all of the Shofar recommendations are critical of Trump. An essay by Waxman and Ben-Ami backs the president’s 20-point plan to secure Gaza, dismantle Hamas and extend its ceasefire with Israel (while also urging the administration to end “blank-check” funding for Israel and to stop supporting far-right parties around the world). That, too, is in keeping with what some Jewish leaders who are critical of Trump have said about his Gaza plan in recent days.

The report’s authors also push for ideas such as media literacy programs, Holocaust and Jewish history education, “off-ramp” programs to help people leave extremist movements, and combatting disinformation with the aid of social media companies (the QAnon and Great Replacement conspiracy theories in particular).

Though light on specifics, Jacoby said the report would ideally lead to a broader effort from Jewish groups and institutions to articulate new visions for fighting antisemitism while upholding liberal democracies. He was encouraged, he said, by recent signs of Jewish pushback to Trump, including Jewish presidents of top universities rejecting a federal funding “compact” that critics said would have compromised academic freedom in order to restore grants pulled over purported antisemitism concerns. 

He further predicted that the FBI’s recent severing of longstanding ties with the Anti-Defamation League would also galvanize the Jewish community: “I think that American Jews see the danger in these kinds of policies.”

There remains the question of how much influence such a report can have. As long as Trump and Republicans remain in power, the Shofar Report’s recommendations and persuasions will be swimming directly against today’s political currents. Jacoby lamented that properly dealing with antisemitism was not “a bipartisan issue,” but remains optimistic “that it will become one.” 

“I would say there’s more work to be done,” he said. “Each of these recommendations needs to be translated into more concrete and more specific ideas for action, and our hope is that they will be over the coming year, and actually over the coming years as the political landscape shifts.”

He added, “I think this is the beginning. I think we need to take more steps to make this more concrete. And we will, and so will other organizations. … I think we are a guiding force.”

When Susan Stamberg first sat behind the microphone to host a newfangled broadcasting venture called National Public Radio, in 1972, some board members had a concern: She sounded too Jewish.

Though that wasn’t quite how they tended to phrase it, recalled a colleague. Instead, NPR board members feared that the “All Things Considered” co-host was “too New York” for Midwest audiences.

“Besides being a woman, the Jewish element was another aspect,” Jack Mitchell, an early producer on the daily afternoon program, told NPR. “Here is somebody whose name is Stamberg. She had an obvious New York accent. Made no bones about it… And the president of NPR asked that I not put her in there for those — because of the complaints from managers.”

Stamberg went on the air anyway, and quickly became a defining personality for the nonprofit radio network. In subsequent decades, as NPR turned into a cultural juggernaut, Stamberg and her “New York” personality became something of its unofficial mascot. In the elevators of NPR’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, her voice guides visitors from floor to floor.

Stamberg died Thursday at age 87, leaving behind years of her bubbly conversations and an annual, love-it-or-hate-it recipe for her family’s “cranberry relish.” 

As one of NPR’s “founding mothers” in the 1970s, she helped shape the network’s personality: warm, liberal-leaning, and — along with or laying the groundwork for fellow longtime marquee names like Nina Totenberg, Ira Flatow, Terri Gross and Robert Siegel — unmistakably, culturally Jewish. In later years, long after her retirement from regular on-air duties, Stamberg would still pop up to read the winners of NPR’s annual “Hanukkah Lights” short-story contest.

“I am very sociologically Jewish. Very ethnically Jewish, although not in an observant way.  There are a lot of people like me,” Stamberg told the Jewish Women’s Archive in 2011, adding that she willingly participated in Torah study with her son Josh — today an actor — when he was becoming a bar mitzvah at her husband’s request. “I feel deeply Jewish and I deeply identify with my Jewishness, but it doesn’t need a formal affiliation for me.” 

Born Susan Levitt in Newark in 1938, she was a child of Manhattan’s culturally Jewish scene. Stamberg grew up without regular Jewish observance, though she told the Jewish Women’s Archive she was part of a confirmation class at Temple Rodeph Sholem, the Reform synagogue on the Upper West Side. Her father, a staunch Zionist, raised money for the Weizmann Institute, the research institute founded in 1934 in Rehovot. She earned an English literature degree at Barnard College, the first in her family to go to college.

She married Louis Stamberg, who became a longtime USAID staffer, and the duo moved to Washington, D.C. Susan recalled that her husband, whose father founded a congregation in Allentown, Pennsylvania, grew up “where being Jewish was really an issue.” Her father-in-law “was insistent that we, too, join a temple in Washington. I said, ‘Well, Why?’” she recalled in 2011. “That’s how I came to know that the entire world was not Jewish like the world in which I had grown up.”

After stints at WAMU, the local public radio station, and for Voice of America in India, Stamberg initially joined NPR, after its founding by an act of Congress in 1971, to cut tape for radio interviews. When “All Things Considered” launched in 1972 she became its co-host and thus also the first woman to anchor a broadcast news program, in her colleagues’ estimation — overcoming considerable sexism from both the network’s listeners and executives. 

Stamberg only held the anchor post for a few years, soon pivoting to the cultural correspondent stories she would become known for. She took on other hosting duties, too, including for “Weekend Edition,” where she introduced the show’s trademark Sunday puzzles and first brought on the guests who would become the mega-popular program “Car Talk.”

“I think all of that is very Jewish, the telling of stories, but also the seeking of opinions and also being open to the range of opinions that are out there,” Stamberg would tell the Jewish Women’s Archive about her work. 

Laughing, she added, “I also feel that sometimes mine’s right. I think that’s very Jewish, too.”

Stamberg is survived by her son and two granddaughters.

This piece first ran as part of The Countdown, our daily newsletter rounding up all the developments in the New York City mayor’s race. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. There are 19 days to the election.

📊 Numbers to know

• Shortly before the debate, a Fox News survey found Mamdani winning more than half of likely voters for the first time.

• The poll gave him 52% support among likely voters, trailed by 28% for Cuomo and 14% for Sliwa.

• The survey also looked at a small subgroup of Jewish registered voters. Among them, 42% favored Cuomo and a close proportion of 38% backed Mamdani, while 13% supported Sliwa.

• More New York City voters back Palestinians than Israelis, according to the poll. Most voters who side with Palestinians support Mamdani (70%) while those who support Israelis are divided among Cuomo (39%), Mamdani (28%) and Sliwa (23%).

🗳 Amy Schumer for Cuomo

• Jewish comic Amy Schumer shared her choice for mayor in an Instagram story yesterday — and it “rhymes with duomo.”

• Schumer has been vocal about her support for Israel during the Gaza war, though she did not say whether her vote had anything to do with Mamdani’s Israel views.

• She was among hundreds of entertainment leaders, including Jerry Seinfeld and Gal Gadot, who signed an open letter voicing support for Israel and condemning Hamas shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks. Some of her social media posts have been scrutinized by critics who said she conflated Gazans with Hamas.

• The comedian is a second cousin of Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic Senate minority leader who has declined to endorse anyone in the race.

🗓 Coming up

• On Oct. 21, you can listen to Cuomo’s interview with Logan Paul and Mike Majlak on the “Impaulsive” podcast. Paul, a controversial YouTuber and WWE wrestler who endorsed Trump in the 2024 presidential election, claims Jewish ancestry.

• On Oct. 26, Mamdani will hold a rally together with Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at Forest Hills Stadium. They’re calling it “New York is Not For Sale.”

The BBC will be required to air a statement correcting its coverage after the U.K. media watchdog Ofcom sanctioned the channel failing to identify the narrator of a Gaza documentary as the son of a Hamas official.

“Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone,” aired on the BBC in February. It quickly drew fire for being one-sided against Israel, and critics identified one of the narrators, all young people, as the son of Hamas’s former deputy minister of agriculture.

“Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC. This failing had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of trust that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war,” Ofcom wrote in a statement.

The media regulator also added that the BBC’s breach of its broadcasting code resulted in its audience being “materially misled.”

As a consequence, the BBC will be required to air a statement of Ofcom’s findings during its broadcast. A date for the statement has not yet been released.

The film, which was produced by independent production company Hoyo Films, follows three young people as they navigate war-torn Gaza. It has emerged as a central exhibit for those who believe the BBC is biased against Israel.

The BBC said Hoyo had not disclosed the relationship of one of the narrators, Abdullah Al-Yazouri, prior to its screening. The documentary was pulled from distribution following the revelation about Al-Yazouri’s family ties.

Several months ago, an  internal review by the network found it had breached an editorial rule on accuracy but concluded there was no evidence that Hamas “inappropriately impacted” the program. According to the internal review, which was conducted by Peter Johnston, the BBC’s director of editorial complaints and reviews, $1,071 was paid to Al-Yazouri’s sister for a “reasonable, production-related” expense.

Johnston added that there was “no reasonable basis to conclude that anyone engaged or paid in connection with the programme was subject to financial sanctions” related to Hamas.

“The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston’s review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC’s editorial guidelines on accuracy,” the BBC said in a statement on Friday. “We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom’s decision in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised.”

The British government is reviewing a decision to bar Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a major soccer match next month over what local police had said were security concerns.

The Aston Villa Football Club announced the ban on Thursday, saying in a statement that the Security Advisory Group responsible for issuing safety certificates for the matches at the team’s Birmingham stadium, Villa Park, had made the decision.

“Following a meeting this afternoon, the SAG have formally written to the club and UEFA to advise no away fans will be permitted to attend Villa Park for this fixture,” the club said, referring to the Union of European Football Associations. “West Midlands Police have advised the SAG that they have public safety concerns outside the stadium bowl and the ability to deal with any potential protests on the night.”

The Villa Park announcement swiftly drew an uproar from a wide array of voices who said the police were abdicating their responsibility.

“This is the wrong decision,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement. “We will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets. The role of the police is to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation.”

The local police said their assessment reflected the sweeping violence that unfolded around a Maccabi Tel Aviv-Ajax match in Amsterdam last year, exactly one year before the Nov. 6 match planned for Villa Park. Dutch, Israeli, European and U.S. officials all denounced the Amsterdam violence, which followed rising tensions that included provocations by Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, as antisemitic.

Sporting events involving Israeli teams have drawn protests and disruptions during the war in Gaza, which entered a ceasefire last week. Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated against Israel’s participation in a World Cup qualifying match in Norway this week, and earlier this month a Canadian tennis match was played in an empty stadium over concerns about disruptive protests against Israel.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism, a nonprofit, said it would pursue legal action against the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.

“We will do whatever it takes to overturn this pernicious ban which has humiliated and angered the whole country,” it said in a statement. “Britain is increasingly waking up to the extremism in our midst but now we must all fight the instinctive appeasement within the authorities and our law enforcement.”

Now, the prime minister’s office is closely involved in conversations aimed at reversing the ban, which was announced the same day that Starmer announced new funding to protect Jewish communities, allocated in the wake of the deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur.

“We cannot have a country where we have to tell people to stay away from an event because they can’t be protected or they may be a victim of racism,” a spokesperson told the BBC.

President Donald Trump appeared to threaten violence against Hamas in Gaza on Thursday as he responded to reports that Hamas was executing Gazans following the ceasefire with Israel that Trump brokered last week.

“If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday, concluding with a trademark flourish: “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Soon after, he clarified that he did not mean the United States would enter Gaza. “Somebody will go in … It’s not going to be us,” he told reporters, adding, “There are people very nearby that will go in, they’ll do the trick very easily, but under our auspices.”

Trump has previously said he would endorse Israeli operations in Gaza when Hamas did not meet his demands. He had said earlier in the week that he was not bothered by early reports of Hamas violence, saying that the United States had given the group a leash to “stop the problems” in Gaza for a period of time. But as Palestinians within Gaza have called out for help, he and other U.S. officials have shifted their tone.

“We strongly urge Hamas to immediately suspend violence and shooting at innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza – in both Hamas-held parts of Gaza and those secured by the IDF behind the Yellow Line,” Brad Cooper, the U.S. Navy admiral who commands operations in the Middle East, said in a statement on Wednesday. “This is an historic opportunity for peace. Hamas should seize it by fully standing down, strictly adhering to President Trump’s 20-point peace plan, and disarming without delay.”

Cooper said the United States remained optimistic that the ceasefire would hold despite the violence.

Thursday was the first day since Hamas was required under the terms of the ceasefire to free all hostages that it did not release any, after releasing all 20 living hostages on Monday and nine deceased hostages over three days. Hamas says it needs heavy machinery to be able to extricate the 19 remaining deceased hostages, but Israel, which says it has intelligence about the locations of many of the bodies, disputes the claim.