ReportWire

Tag: Religious discrimination

  • State leaders pledge to root out antisemitism

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    BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey is vowing that her administration will move quickly to implement recommendations in a new report on antisemitism in Massachusetts, which found an “alarming” increase in hate crimes and discrimination targeting Jewish people over the past year.

    The report by the Special Commission on Combatting Antisemitism, released earlier this month, said hate crimes against Jewish students in the state have risen dramatically while gaps in anti-bias training and a lack of centralized reporting in public schools mean many incidents of antisemitism go unaddressed.

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    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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  • ‘You ready?’: Montgomery Co. man pleads guilty to mailing threats against Jewish institutions in DC region – WTOP News

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    Clift Seferlis, 55, of Garrett Park, entered guilty pleas for 17 counts of mailing threatening communications and eight counts of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs.

    A Montgomery County, Maryland, man has pleaded guilty in federal court to mailing threatening letters and postcards to more than a dozen Jewish institutions in Maryland, Virginia, D.C. and elsewhere over the past 18 months, suggesting that buildings would be destroyed and people killed.

    Clift Seferlis, 55, of Garrett Park, entered guilty pleas Monday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for 17 counts of mailing threatening communications and eight counts of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs. While most of the threats involved Jewish institutions in the D.C. area, some were mailed from Pennsylvania, where Seferlis visited often.

    According to Seferlis’s plea memorandum, between March 2024 and June 2025, he used the U.S. mail system to send at least 40 letters and two postcards to more than 25 Jewish organizations and entities, including synagogues, Jewish museums, community centers, schools, nonprofit organizations and a delicatessen.

    Federal prosecutors determined all of the letters were composed on the same typewriter, and many included news articles about the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The threatening postcards were handwritten, in block letters.

    A letter to a synagogue in Gaithersburg invoked the German word “Kristallnacht,” which refers to the “Night of Broken Glass,” when anti-Jewish attacks took place in Germany and Austria, on Nov. 9, 1938.

    In a footnote in the plea document, prosecutors explained: “Nazis and other Germans burned more than 1,400 synagogues, vandalized thousands of Jewish businesses, imprisoned more than 20,000 Jewish men, and assaulted and killed hundreds of Jewish people.”

    In the letter to one of the houses of worship, Seferlis typed: “You do know Kristallnacht is very strong and sooner than later there is going to be PLENTY of broken glass at your synagogue.”

    A letter to another institution asked rhetorically, “And you wonder why that nice young couple were gunned down in front of the museum in DC,” suggesting it could happen again. Prosecutors said Seferlis was referring to the killing of two staff members at the Israel Embassy, who were shot near the Capital Jewish Museum in Northwest, D.C. in May 2025.

    Another letter, addressed to a Jewish school in Rockville included an article about an Israeli attack in Lebanon. Seferlis wrote: “Does the image mean anything to you? Are you proud to be part of without doubt the most hated diaspora on earth, one with no end to their cruelty? Of course you are not moved by this. You are a jew. Perhaps it might be more effective when the school is in ruins.”

    A letter to a rabbi at a synagogue in D.C. included, “Are you concerned for the well being of your congregants?… you might want to be.”

    A postcard mailed from Philadelphia included: “Gaza is in ruins. Countless dead. And you want to tell your story. Your story soon will be trying to rebuild your building when we are done playing IDF on it. You ready?” IDF stands for Israel Defense Forces, the national military of Israel.

    According to the plea agreement, when Seferlis is sentenced on March 16, 2026, prosecutors and the defense will each argue for what they believe is an appropriate sentence.

    In a news release, the U.S. Department of Justice said when Seferlis is sentenced in March, he faces a maximum penalty of 169 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $5,650,000 fine.

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Neal Augenstein

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  • Musk Strategy to Contain Anti-Semitism Fallout Is to Go ‘Thermonuclear’

    Musk Strategy to Contain Anti-Semitism Fallout Is to Go ‘Thermonuclear’

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    Elon Musk employed an aggressive strategy—including the threat of a “thermonuclear” lawsuit— to contain the fallout after his endorsement of anti-Semitic rhetoric on X that prompted an advertising backlash at the billionaire’s social media company and some on Wall Street to call for his censure.

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  • IBM pulls ads from X after Elon Musk’s incendiary comments over white pride

    IBM pulls ads from X after Elon Musk’s incendiary comments over white pride

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    IBM Corp.
    IBM,
    +0.31%
    has abruptly pulled ads from X, formerly Twitter, amid a maelstrom of controversial comments from billionaire owner Elon Musk and the placement of IBM ads.

    “IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation,” the company said in a statement emailed to MarketWatch.

    IBM suspended advertising following a report by the Financial Times on Thursday that IBM ads appeared next to posts supporting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. A Media Matters study also found ads from Apple Inc.
    AAPL,
    +0.90%    ,
    Oracle Corp.
    ORCL,
    +0.53%    ,
    and Comcast Corp.’s
    CMCSA,
    -0.28%
    Xfinity and Bravo were adjacent to pro-Nazi content.

    On Wednesday, Musk agreed with a post on X supportive of an antisemitic conspiracy theory that Jewish people hold a “dialectical hatred” of white people. “You have said the actual truth,” Musk wrote in response to the post.

    Compounding matters, Musk on Thursday said on X it was “super messed up” that white people are not, in the words of one far-right user’s tweet, “allowed to be proud of their race.”

    Adding fuel to the fire, Musk said on Wednesday that the Jewish advocacy group the Anti-Defamation League “unjustly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel.” (Musk has threatened to sue the ADL because of its criticism of lax moderation practices on X that it says have allowed antisemitism to spread.)

    The cascading conflagration prompted Tesla Inc.
    TSLA,
    -3.81%
    bull and investment adviser Ross Gerber to grumble on X: “Getting a flood of messages from clients wanting out of tesla and anything to do with Elon Musk. Many saying they are selling their cars as well. What is he doing to the tesla brand??!!?!?”

    Earlier this year, Gerber backed down from his “friendly activist” efforts to join Tesla’s board, saying he felt his concerns had been addressed. His firm, Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, has its own ETF, AdvisorShares Gerber Kawasaki 
    GK,
     which has Tesla as its top investment, and has attracted many clients with Tesla shares in its portfolios

    In an interview on CNBC late Thursday, Gerber said that while he is not selling his Tesla stock, ” I’m not going to mince words about it anymore as a shareholder. It’s absolutely outrageous, his behavior and the damage he’s caused to the brand.”

    Gerber said Musk has essentially abdicated his responsibilities as Tesla CEO: “It’s all about Twitter, and what he can tweet, and how many people he can piss off… What’s going to happen to Tesla over the next 10 years, are they gonna achieve their mission if the CEO isn’t actually the CEO? Because he’s certainly not acting as the CEO of Tesla.”

    An X executive told MarketWatch that the company did a “sweep” of the accounts next to the IBM ads. Those accounts “will no longer be monetizable” and specific posts will be labeled “Sensitive Media.”

    The executive said 99% of measured ad placements on X this year have appeared adjacent to content scoring “above the brand safety floor” criteria set by industry standards.

    Late Thursday, X’s chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, tweeted: “X’s point of view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should STOP across the board — I think that’s something we can and should all agree on. When it comes to this platform — X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. There’s no place for it anywhere in the world — it’s ugly and wrong. Full stop.”

    The posts and ad placement come amid a wave of antisemitism on digital forums including X and a downturn in advertising on the platform linked to hate speech and misinformation. Musk said in July that ad revenue had plunged about 50%.

    The latest kerfuffle is likely to complicate the efforts of Yaccarino, who was hired in June from Comcast Corp.’s
    CMCSA,
    -0.28%
    NBCUniversal to sway advertising agencies and major brands to stay on, or initiate relationships with, the platform now known as X.

    Tesla shares fell nearly 4% on Thursday but are still up about 90% to date in 2023.

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  • Texas to execute man for killing ex-girlfriend and her son

    Texas to execute man for killing ex-girlfriend and her son

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    HOUSTON — A Texas inmate seeking to stop his execution over claims of religious freedom violations and indifference to his medical needs is scheduled to die Wednesday evening for killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend and her 7-year-old son more than 17 years ago.

    Stephen Barbee, 55, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the February 2005 deaths of Lisa Underwood, 34, and her son Jayden. Both were suffocated at their home in Fort Worth. They were later found buried in a shallow grave in nearby Denton County.

    Barbee’s attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution, arguing his religious rights are being violated because the state prison system, in the wake of a ruling by the high court on what spiritual advisers can do while in the execution chamber, did not create a written policy on the issue.

    In March, the U.S. Supreme Court said states must accommodate the wishes of death row inmates who want to have their faith leaders pray and touch them during their executions. Texas prison officials didn’t formally update their policy but said they would review inmates’ petitions on a case-by-case basis and would grant most reasonable requests.

    Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt in Houston issued a preliminary injunction, saying the state could only execute Barbee after it had published a clear policy on spiritual advisers that protects an inmate’s religious rights. Last week, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Hoyt’s injunction, saying it was overbroad.

    On Tuesday, Hoyt issued a new injunction focused specifically on protecting Barbee’s rights. The Texas Attorney General’s Office immediately appealed to the 5th Circuit, which would have to make a ruling before the Supreme Court could take up the issue.

    The Texas Attorney General’s Office said in a previous court filing that Barbee’s claims are moot as state prison officials are allowing his spiritual adviser to touch him and pray aloud during his execution.

    Also Tuesday, Hoyt denied a separate request by Barbee’s attorneys for an execution stay over claims the inmate’s right to avoid cruel and unusual punishment would be violated. His lawyers say Barbee has physical constraints that limit the movement of his shoulders and arms and he would experience “intolerable pain and suffering” if he is executed in the normal manner with his arms outstretched on the gurney so that IV lines can be placed to deliver the lethal injection.

    In a court filing from earlier this month, lawyers with the Texas Attorney General’s Office assured Hoyt that prison officials would make accommodations for Barbee and allow his arms to remain bent and if needed would find another location to place the IV lines.

    On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously declined to commute Barbee’s death sentence to a lesser penalty or to grant a four-month reprieve.

    Prosecutors said Barbee killed his ex-girlfriend and her son because he didn’t want his wife to know Underwood was seven months pregnant, presumably by him. DNA evidence later revealed Barbee wasn’t the father. Underwood owned a Fort Worth bagel shop, which was named after her son. She and her son were reported missing after failing to show up at a baby shower.

    Barbee confessed to police he killed Underwood and her son but later recanted. Barbee said the confession was coerced and has since maintained he is innocent and was framed by his business partner.

    His trial, including sentencing, took less than three days to complete in February 2006.

    Barbee is set to receive a lethal injection on the same day as Arizona plans to execute Murray Hoope r for killing two people during a home robbery in Phoenix on New Year’s Eve 1980. Hooper is set to be executed at 11 a.m. CST on Wednesday.

    If Barbee is executed, he would be the fifth inmate put to death this year in Texas. He is the last inmate scheduled for execution this year in the state.

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    Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70

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  • Official: Man who made synagogue threat has been identified

    Official: Man who made synagogue threat has been identified

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    Federal agents have identified the man they believe posted a broad online threat against synagogues in New Jersey but do not believe he was planning to carry out a specific plot, a law enforcement official said Friday.

    The man, whose identity was not immediately released, was questioned by law enforcement and told agents he had been bullied in the past and harbored anger toward Jewish people, the official said. But investigators do not believe the man had the means or motive to carry out any specific attack, the official added.

    The official could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

    The FBI said Thursday that it had received credible information about a “broad” threat to synagogues in New Jersey, a warning that prompted some municipalities to send extra police officers to guard houses of worship.

    The nature of the threat was vague. The FBI’s Newark office released a statement urging synagogues to “take all security precautions to protect your community and facility” but wouldn’t say anything about who made the threat or why.

    The alert was posted after officials discovered an online threat directed broadly at synagogues in New Jersey, the law enforcement official said Thursday. The posting did not target any specific synagogue by name, the official said.

    Public warnings about nonspecific threats against Jewish institutions, made by a variety of groups including Christian supremacists and Islamist extremists, aren’t unusual in the New York City metropolitan area, and many turn out to be false alarms. But the area has also seen deadly attacks.

    Five years ago, two New Jersey men were sentenced to 35 years in prison after being convicted of a series of attacks in 2012 that included the firebombings of two synagogues. They also threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of a rabbi as he slept with his wife and children.

    In 2019, a man stabbed five people at a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi’s home in an Orthodox Jewish community north of New York City, fatally wounding one person.

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  • Religious Freedom “Listening Session” at the Church of Scientology

    Religious Freedom “Listening Session” at the Church of Scientology

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    The Nashville Church of Scientology held an International Religious Freedom Day “listening session” in partnership with the Tennessee chapter of United for Human Rights to gather information for the group’s 2018 State of Religious Freedom Report.

    Press Release
    –


    updated: Nov 1, 2017


    Nashville, Tennessee, November 1, 2017 (Newswire.com)
    –
    The mission of Tennessee United for Human Rights is to bring about human rights reform by raising awareness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To further this purpose, the group organized an International Religious Freedom Day “listening session” Oct 27 to call attention to this vitally important right.

    Rev. Brian Fesler, pastor of the Nashville Church of Scientology and regional coordinator of  Tennessee United for Human Rights (TnUHR) said, “Religious freedom is so fundamental, so basic, so natural—it is impossible to imagine a world at peace without this essential human right.” 

    TnUHR plans to publish a State of Religious Freedom Report for Tennessee in 2018, which will include the information gathered through this focus group.

    Several faith leaders representing Muslim, Sikh and Christian denominations contributed their views during this public listening session. They were posed and answered questions about their faiths, public perception of their religions, and religious discrimination.

    TnUHR is a chapter of United for Human Rights, an international organization formed on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. United for Human Rights provides human rights resources and educational materials to all sectors of society. For more information visit tnuhr.org. 

    For more information, visit the Scientology Newsroom.

    Source: ScientologyNews.org

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