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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 626

religious freedom

People shopat the BIG Fashion Mall in Glilot, central Israel, March 4, 2025. (Tal Gal/Flash90)
April 2, 2025, 6:54 pm
Tel Aviv suburb says it’ll defy order to shut new mall on Shabbat amid Haredi threats
Ultra-Orthodox vow boycott of all chains operating in new BIG fashion mall in Ramat Hasharon if it opens on Jewish rest day; Lapid: ‘Stop interfering in lives of secular people’
By Sam Sokol and ToI Staff
An Iranian Jewish man prays at the Molla Agha Baba Synagogue in the city of Yazd, 420 miles south of capital Tehran, Iran, November 20, 2014. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
March 7, 2025, 9:04 pm
Trump’s refugee ban is keeping 700 persecuted Iranian Jews out of the US
The US president has signed an order indefinitely halting the admission of refugees – including applicants for a special program for members of religious minority groups in Iran
By Asaf Elia-Shalev
Vicky and Eilam Sher on their wedding day in 2020. They held a private ceremony not recognized by the State of Israel. (Courtesy)
February 21, 2025, 9:01 am
Avoiding the Rabbinate, 3,000 Israeli couples married last year in Utah’s ‘Zoom weddings’
New report by group promoting religious freedom says 67% of Israeli public supports recognizing all types of marriages in Israel, including civil, Reform and Conservative
By Rossella Tercatin
Iranians wave a national flag as they celebrate a Gaza ceasefire deal, during a rally after the Friday noon prayers in Tehran on January 17, 2025. Israel's security cabinet met on January 17 to vote on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal that would go into effect on January 19, 2025. (AFP)
January 22, 2025, 11:40 pm
Iran reportedly arrests 10 Bahai women in ‘shocking’ raids
Bahai organization calls arrests part of Tehran’s ‘escalating campaign of persecution’ against members of the religion, including ‘systematic targeting of women’
By AFP
A woman holding a rifle borrowed from a Syrian opposition fighter poses for a picture, next to a government forces tank that was left on a street, at the Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, December 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
December 13, 2024, 8:50 am
What Matters Now to Ksenia Svetlova: Women are the canary in the Mideast coal mine
As the rebel factions in Syria continue to fight to wrest control, the world looks at their treatment of women. Middle East analyst, a former MK, ranks Israel and its neighbors
By Amanda Borschel-Dan and Ksenia Svetlova
Secular and Orthodox activists clash after the religious Rosh Yehudi group sets up a gender divider made of Israeli flags in defiance of a municipality decision at a public prayer service in Dizengoff Square, Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur, September 24, 2023. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash 90)
October 10, 2024, 2:16 pm
Despite winning court battle, group cancels outdoor Yom Kippur prayers in Tel Aviv
Citing concern of saboteurs disrupting gender-separated services even after court confirmed their legality, Rosh Yehudi says they’ll be held inside to keep the peace
By Mati Wagner
Rabbi Abraham Cooper attends the morning prayers at the Bahrain synagogue, June 25, 2019. (Raphael Ahren/TOI)
March 12, 2024, 10:48 pm
Riyadh says demand that US delegation chair remove kippah an ‘unfortunate incident’
Saudi Embassy in DC says request was made of Rabbi Abraham Cooper, chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, due to ‘misunderstanding of internal protocols’
By Jacob Magid and AFP
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, center, of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, speaks in front of civic and faith leaders outside City Hall, May 20, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
March 12, 2024, 3:02 am
US government delegation cuts short Saudi trip after rabbi is asked to remove kippah
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, who chairs the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, says ‘no one should be denied access to a heritage site… simply for existing as a Jew’
By AFP
Muslims attend Friday prayers during the Muslims holy fasting month of Ramadan, at Amr ibn al-Aas Mosque, in Cairo, Egypt, April 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
October 17, 2023, 1:59 am
Fearing ostracism or worse, many Muslim nonbelievers hide their views in Middle East
Atheists, agnostics and religiously unaffiliated people in Arab world tell about the various ways they get around while avoiding persecution
By MARIAM FAM
FILE - Residents watch jets from the Patrouille de France flying over Paris suburb Nanterre during the Bastille Day military parade on July 14, 2023 in Nanterre (AP Photo/Youcef Bounab, File)
September 5, 2023, 1:01 pm
French schools refuse entry to dozens of girls wearing Muslim dress, minister says
Month after ban was announced, nearly 300 girls showed up wearing an abaya; 67 sent home after they refused to change, says education minister
By AFP
Light illuminates part of the Supreme Court building at dusk on Capitol Hill in Washington, November 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
March 3, 2023, 9:58 am
ADL, AJC join in US Supreme Court case on workplace religious protections
Orthodox Jewish groups are already supporting the case of an evangelical postal worker who wants Sundays off, saying workplaces that don’t respect religious freedom affect Jews
By Ron Kampeas
A before and after photo depicting how a painting of Jesus at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, is now obscured by a curtain. (Before: U.S. Coast Guard; After: U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.)
February 23, 2023, 10:49 am
Painting of Jesus at Merchant Marine Academy moved to chapel amid Jewish complaints
Republicans decry ‘woke’ decision that ends longstanding dispute between conservatives and religious freedom advocates
By Ron Kampeas
Chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee MK Simcha Rothman (center) at a hearing, with committee legal adviser Attorney Gur Bligh (right), February 20, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
February 20, 2023, 5:08 pm
Knesset legal adviser: Overhaul leaves equality, freedom of expression unprotected
Adviser to Knesset committee leading legislation charge says clause in government’s bill would mean fundamental civil rights have no anchor in Israeli law
By Jeremy Sharon
A before and after photo depicting how a painting of Jesus at the US Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, is now obscured by a curtain. (Before: US Coast Guard; After: US Merchant Marine Academy via JTA)
January 18, 2023, 8:14 am
US Merchant Marine Academy covers huge Jesus painting after religious freedom outcry
Jews were among those who complained about painting’s location in a room where events with mandatory attendance are held
By Ron Kampeas
Abi Dauber Sterne and Robbie Gringrass, educators and authors of 'Stories for the Sake of Argument' (Courtesy PR)
May 13, 2022, 1:58 pm
Podcast: Two educators teach us how to love a good argument
Veteran educators Abi Dauber Sterne and Robbie Gringras talk about the art of fighting and the stories that inspire disagreement
By ToI Staff
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