A person texting on a mobile phone – Photo: Christian Wiediger, via Unsplash.
Thousands of LGBTQ Israelis received text messages saying they “deserve severe punishment, death and deportation” and demanding that they “repent” on Monday, according to The Aguda – Israel’s LGBT Task Force.
“You are LGBT and an apostate. You deserve severe punishment, death and deportation from Israel,” the text message reads. “Come to Yeshiva Ohr Elhanan in order to repent. We would be glad if you undergo conversion to faith.”
The message included a phone number and a Telegram account to contact and claimed to be sent by Rabbi Chaim Aryeh Hadash, the dean of Yeshiva Ohr Elhanan, a Lithuanian-style Orthodox yeshiva in Jerusalem.
The rabbi denied having any connection to the message, telling KAN news that he has never talked about LGBTQ issues nor addressed them in his yeshiva, according to the Jerusalem Post. Hadash urged police to investigate who sent the messages.
The Aguda and Havruta, an organization seeking to promote tolerance and acceptance of LGBTQ people within the Orthodox community, called in a letter for Rabbi Hadash to publish a public condemnation of the text messages sent in his name and to “prevent the further great desecration of God that has already been done.” They also invited Hadash to engage in a dialogue with the LGBTQ religious Jewish community.
It is unclear if the person who sent the messages used information leaked by the Black Shadow, an Iranian-based hacker group, following a ransomware attack against the Atraf dating website in October. The attack eventually forced the LGBTQ geo-located dating service to shut down permanently, and hackers began releasing users’ personal information in waves unless they were paid a ransom of $1 million.
The hacking of Atraf also underscored the vulnerability of online dating apps or websites — particularly those serving the LGBTQ community — that fail to put proper security measures into place. Earlier this year, the gay dating app Manhunt was hacked, exposing potentially thousands of users’ data.
If the text messages did indeed utilize information from the Black Shadow leak, former Atraf users could find private details or pictures exposed, subjecting them to public humiliation, or, even worse, those users who are still in the closet could be “outed” by the release of such data.
In addition to leaking the information of the LGBTQ users of Atraf, the Black Shadow has also uploaded what is claimed was the full database of personal information and in-depth medical records of patients at Israel’s Machon Mor medical institute, according to the Times of Israel. Other websites affected included public transportation companies Dan and Kavim, a children’s museum, public radio’s online blog, a tourism company, and a medical service.
Yoram Hacohen, the director-general of the Israel Internet Association, also called for an investigation into who sent the text and whether they used data from the Black Shadow attack, saying it should be possible to track such information.
Israeli police subsequently opened an investigation into the text messages, saying it is looking for possible suspects.
The Aguda called on people who received the texts to report the incident via its website or by contacting Israeli police directly.
People who received the text and are seeking someone to talk to have been encouraged to reach out to the Aguda’s hotline by dialing *2982 or via WhatsApp at 058-6205591. The hotline operates Sunday through Thursday and on Saturday night from 7:30-10:30 p.m.
The Trump administration has agreed to settle a lawsuit by restoring webpages containing health- and science-related information, including resources on HIV and LGBTQ health issues, that had been deleted to comply with a series of executive orders issued by President Donald Trump.
Those orders sought to erase transgender identity from federal law, prohibited agencies from using the term "gender" in policy, and targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across government and the private sector.
Other Trump orders targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in both government and the private sector, and threatened to strip federal funding from events or organizations accused of promoting so-called "gender ideology."
"It was kind of confusing," David Archuleta says, recalling the time roughly 16 years ago when he was first asked to write a memoir. "What am I supposed to talk about? I'm 18 years old, and I feel like I'm just starting my journey, and you want me to write a memoir now?"
That memoir, Chords of Strength: A Memoir of Soul, Song, and the Power of Perseverance, was written by Archuleta with Monica Haim and published by an imprint of Penguin Group in 2010. He was barely an adult at the time, and it had only been two years since he competed on American Idol, becoming the season seven runner-up.
Harvard University has drawn criticism from conservatives after announcing that Tufts professor Kareem Khubchandani -- who performs and occasionally lectures in drag as "LaWhore Vagistan" -- will serve as a visiting associate professor in its Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality department.
The visiting professorship was established through an endowment from members of the Harvard Gender & Sexuality Caucus, the university's LGBTQ alumni group. It was created to bring in scholars focused on issues related to sexual minorities and sexuality.
Khubchandani is scheduled to teach two courses during the 2025-2026 academic year: "Queer Ethnography," in the fall semester, and "RuPaulitics: Drag, Race, and Desire" in the spring semester, focusing on the cultural influence of the show RuPaul's Drag Race.
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