Hamas’ execution of its own commander last month suggests a widening schism among leaders of the terrorist group as well as a loss of authority in the Gaza Strip. Mahmoud Ishtiwi, a senior figure in the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades who commanded 1,000 men during Hamas’ 2014 war with Israel, was...

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A gay Iranian poet who was granted a visa to visit Israel in December has now applied for asylum in the Jewish state, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday. Payam Feili, who escaped persecution in his native Iran and has been living in Turkey since 2014, traveled to Israel in...

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Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters disrupted a Shabbat service and reception held by an Israeli LGBTQ organization at a conference for gay activism in Chicago, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on Sunday. Guests and organizers at the reception by A Wider Bridge, a group devoted to building closer ties between gay...

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The United States and Canada need to do more “to confront lethal homophobia and persecution in the Arab world and Iran,” Benjamin Weinthal, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, wrote in a commentary for Canada’s National Post on Thursday. Weinthal advocated a number of steps that North American...

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Payam Feili, an openly gay Iranian poet who faced intense persecution in his country over his sexual orientation and political views, arrived in Israel this Sunday to promote the Hebrew translation of his book Three Reasons and attend the premier of a play based on the work, The Times of...

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Assi Azar, an openly gay Israeli television star and LGBTQ activist, was heckled and threatened by anti-Israel protesters during an appearance last week at Goucher College in Baltimore, The Times of Israel reported Wednesday. Azar was screening his 2010 documentary Mom and Dad, I Have Something To Tell You, about Israelis...

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An Egyptian student who was convicted of having “indecent ideas” for supporting gay rights has released a YouTube video supporting Israel. Sherif Gaber, a former sociology student who went into hiding after being sentenced to a year of hard labor for “contempt for religion” and “dissemination of indecent ideas,” has...

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The nuclear deal with Iran will empower a regime that has killed an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 gays and lesbians since 1979 and enable the increased persecution of sexual minorities in the Islamic Republic, Benjamin Weinthal, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, wrote in an analysis published...

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Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin welcomed a gay youth group and a number of prominent gay personalities to his official residence, The Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday. Wearing white emblazoned maroon colored tee-shirts announcing in Hebrew and English across the front “We are everywhere,” a representative group of slightly more than a...

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Some 150,000 Israelis and foreigners took part in the 16th annual gay pride march through the streets of Tel Aviv on June 13, according to a statement from city hall. This stands in dramatic contrast to the decision by the United Nations General Assembly to choose Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam...

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