A message sent in 1949 to Viktor Abakumov, then the Minister of State Security in the Soviet Union, reported on the establishment of an “anti-Soviet center” in New York by the Frierdiker Rebbe, HaRav Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, z’tl, Chareidim10 reported. The message, sent by KGB agents operating in New York, stated: “The American espionage system established an anti-Soviet center in New York under the cover of a Rabbinic training school, and it is headed by the Jewish tzaddik Schneersohn, who was deported from the USSR in 1928.” The Frierdiker Rebbe was sentenced to death by the Soviet regime in 1927 for the “counter-revolutionary activities” of spreading Torah and Yiddishkeit.

A tiny village in Spain that bore the name “Fort Kill the Jews” from 1627 until 2015 was sprayed with anti-Semitic graffiti on Wednesday ahead of a Jewish family moving in, JTA reported. According to an El País report, a Jewish family is planning on soon moving into the village, joining another Jewish family that moved there earlier this year – the first Jews to do so since medieval times. The word Auschwitz was sprayed on one of the village’s signs, the name “Fort Kill the Jews” was sprayed on a sign leading into the town, and several garage containers throughout the village were lit on fire. The town was originally called Castrillo Motajudíos, or Jew’s Hill Fort, in 1035 – when Jews fleeing a pogrom settled in the village.

A Saudi cleric prayed for G-d to “bring annihilation upon the plundering and occupying Jews” in a Friday night sermon at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, according to a video translated by The Middle East Media Research Institute. “Oh Allah, bring annihilation upon the plundering and occupying Jews for they are no match for you,” said Imam Saleh Bin Al-Humayd. “Oh Allah, bring down upon them Your punishment from which criminals cannot escape. Oh Allah, we make You our shield against them and take refuge with You against their evil.” Al-Humayd is currently one of the nine Imams of the Grand Mosque of Mecca. He is also a member of the Assembly of Saudi Arabia since 1993 and served as Speaker of Majlis al-Shura from February 2002 to February 2009. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

A Maryland auction house has sold a wristwatch that once belonged to Adolf Hitler for $1.1 million. Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City had estimated the value between $2 and $4 million, describing the watch as a “World War II relic of historic proportions.” News outlets report that Jewish leaders and others objected to the sale this week, saying it had little to no historical value. Thirty-four Jewish leaders wrote an open letter slamming the auctioning of items “belonging to a genocidal murderer and his supporters.” Rav Menachem Margolin, the chairman of the European Jewish Association said: “The sale of these items is an abhorrence.

Lufthansa Airlines is creating a senior management position dedicated to the prevention of antisemitism and discrimination several months after an entire group of frum Jews was discriminated against for the behavior of a few individuals, JTA reported. The incident occurred in May when a large group of chassidim was scheduled to fly from Germany to Hungary to visit the kever of Reb Shayale, zt”l, in Kerestir. One or two of the passengers became involved in a conflict with the crew over the airline’s mask mandate, and in response, the staff banned all Jews from catching their connecting flights.

A Jewish applicant to a teacher training scholarship in the UK was quite surprised when he was told that a Jewish woman who was dismissed from her university teaching position by the Nazis was “too white to be diverse,” The Jewish Chronicle (JC) reported. Izzy Posen, a 27-year-old graduate of Bristol University, recently applied to the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications for a £26,000 scholarship for teacher training. At his interview, he was requested to provide an example of a “diverse mathematician.” He responded by naming Emmy Noether, a prominent member of the math department at the University of Göttingenin in Germany in the 1930s who fled to the US after the Nazis dismissed all Jews from university positons.

The U.S. Department of Education will investigate the University of Southern California after a Jewish student claimed she resigned from student government because she endured harassment over her pro-Israel views. The probe by the department’s Office for Civil Rights stems from a complaint by the Jewish advocacy nonprofit Louis D. Brandeis Center alleging the university in Los Angeles “allowed a hostile environment of anti-Semitism to proliferate on its campus,” the center said in a statement Tuesday. The complaint was filed on behalf of Rose Ritch, who stepped down as student body vice president in August 2020.

Since the report earlier this month that Ukraine will not allow Breslover chassidim into the country for Rosh Hashanah, there have been varying reports that the decision may be reversed. In response to those reports, including one that indicated that entry to Ukraine will be possible via Moldova, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk announced on Monday that an official entry ban to Ukraine will be issued prior to Rosh Hashanah. “Today, there is really no official ban on entering Ukraine,” Korniychuk stated. “However the Ukrainian President’s Office clarified that relevant restrictions on entering the country will be adopted and approved before the fall holiday (Rosh Hashanah).” “The state of Ukraine is responsible for the health and lives of all who enter it.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Vinnytsia, a city in western Ukraine with a large Jewish population, was considered a safe haven as it was far from the front lines. But the residents’ sense of security was irretrievably shattered when the city came under Russian attack late last week. Over 23 people were killed, including three young children, and over 100 people were injured when three Russian missiles fired from a Russian ship in the Black Sea damaged offices, residential buildings, stores, and a medical clinic on Thursday. President Volodymyr Zelensky called the killings an act of terrorism – a deliberate targeting of civilians in a location without military value.

As Russia continues to crack down on its citizens and restrict personal freedoms, fear is growing that it may be preparing to ban immigration to Israel, Yediot Achranot reported. The report quoted immigration activist Alex Rif as saying that recent demands by Moscow could be the first step in ending Russian Jewish immigration to Israel. Earlier this month, The Jerusalem Post reported that the Russian government ordered the Jewish Agency to halt all activities inside the country. Although the Agency later denied it was being forced to shut down, saying that the government “merely” noted the Agency’s “administrative issues” that could have “possible legal consequences,” it is apparent that the “legal consequences” could make it impossible for the Agency to operate in Israel.