The IRF is deeply troubled by the new "normal" of the rising incidents of hate crimes, including vicious physical assaults, against recognizable Jewish persons on the streets of Boro Park, Williamsburg and other heavily Hareidi neighborhoods in the New York area during the last two years.

In the ten months since our sisters and brothers in Pittsburgh were murdered at prayer we have borne witness to 305 mass-shootings where 376 people have been murdered and at least 1233 more people have become casualties of the senseless and unending slaughter that has become one of the hallmarks of this great nation.

The International Rabbinic Fellowship expresses it horror and outrage at the terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka targeting Christian worshipers in churches and hotels celebrating Easter, the holiest day in their calendar.

The International Rabbinic Fellowship expresses it horror and outrage at the terrorist attacks in New Zealand targeting Muslim worshipers engaged in prayer to God who created us all in God's image. These attacks, driven by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim hate rip at the very fabric of our shared humanity.

The IRF rarely weighs in on internal Israeli politics as it is not within the purview of the mandate of our rabbinical organization. However, as an organization of rabbis, clergy and scholars who have been deeply committed to the values of classic Religious-Zionism, we must express our condemnation of the merger of the Otzma Yehudit party, political heir to the Kahanist platform, with the Bayit Hayehudi party for the upcoming Israeli elections.