National

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump promoted on his Twitter feed a group founded by Republicans that hopes to draw young Jews away from the Democratic Party. “‘Jewish people are leaving the Democratic Party,’” Trump said Tuesday morning on his feed, quoting Elizabeth Pipko, a spokeswoman for “Jexodus,” who appeared… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — “It’s official,” says the fundraising appeal from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., the freshman lawmaker who has become the flagbearer for the Democratic Party’s restive progressive wing. “AIPAC is coming after Alexandria, Ilhan, and Rashida.” Not only is it not official, it’s not true. The release starts… Read more »

(JTA) — Rep. Ted Deutch, a Jewish Democrat from South Florida, called out lawmakers from both parties for anti-Semitism in a passionate address on the House floor Thursday. Deutch in his address wanted a stand-alone resolution condemning anti-Semitism. Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives were going to vote… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Neshama Carlebach says she is figuring out how “to both love and not love” her father. Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, a spiritual leader and musician whose soulful melodies penetrated the hearts of people across the religious spectrum, is the man who made her into who she is… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The best thing everyone except for the Israelis and Palestinians can do when the Trump administration reveals its peace plan is to be supportive, Trump’s chief negotiator said. And nothing else. “It really is up to the Israelis and the Palestinians; they’re the ones who will… Read more »

(JTA) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Israel this month with the country in the throes of an election campaign. Pompeo will be in Israel on March 20 for a summit involving Israel, Greece and Cyprus, Axios reported. State Department spokesman Robert Palladino told reporters that Pompeo’s… Read more »

(JTA) — White supremacists dramatically stepped up their propaganda efforts targeting neighborhoods and campuses in 2018 to never-before seen levels. Such efforts increased by 182 percent, to 1,187 distributions across the U.S., up from 421 total incidents reported in 2017, the Anti-Defamation League reported Tuesday. The number of racist… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Democrats are revising a statement on anti-Semitism to include other forms of bias following complaints by caucus progressives that the original resolution unfairly singled out Rep. Ilhan Omar. Despite the impassioned objections of at least one Jewish Democrat, House Democrats are set to vote on the… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Democrats reportedly are working on a new resolution condemning anti-Semitism after members of the party’s black and progressive House caucuses complained that it appeared to single out Rep. Ilhan Omar. Multiple reports said there were emotional exchanges Wednesday at a closed caucus meeting, with Jewish members who… Read more »

(JTA) — Thousands of givers have opened their hearts to those affected by the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, donating more than $6.3 million to a fund for their benefit set up by the local Jewish federation. The bulk of the money, nearly $4.4 million, from the Victims of Terror Fund will… Read more »

(JTA) — A majority of Americans still sympathize more with Israel than the Palestinians in the ongoing conflict, but the percentage of support has dropped to its lowest since 2009. Some 59 percent of Americans said they sympathize more with the Israelis, a new Gallup poll found, down from… Read more »

(JTA) — Alan Dershowitz is at the ready for more writing — and he already knows what he writes is flying off the virtual bookshelves. Dershowitz is selling special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his investigation with an introduction by, you guessed it, the outspoken Harvard law professor himself.… Read more »

(JTA) — John Hickenlooper is the latest Democrat who thinks he can win back the White House in 2020. The former Colorado governor and self-described “extreme moderate” announced his candidacy on Monday and is holding his first campaign rally this week. “Ultimately I’m running for president because I believe… Read more »

(JTA) — U.S. President Donald Trump, who left Vietnam Thursday after failing to reach a deal on denuclearization with North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un, said he believes Kim was not aware that American Jewish college student Otto Warmbier was in such bad shape. Warmbier was detained in the country for over a… Read more »

LOS ANGELES (JTA) – It’s a story that would not sound too out of place in 2019: New York’s leading newspaper accuses the president of the United States of corruption and the latter sues the paper’s publisher for libel. Striking back, the publisher declares in an editorial that his… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — While looking at family photos, historian Pamela Nadell noticed how female relatives dressed differently with each generation. Her great-grandmother wore a high lace collar and covered her hair with a wig, like some Orthodox Jews. Her daughter’s go-to is a pair of skinny jeans. Nadell, a… Read more »

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Feb. 18 – Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) today announced that Israel’s inaugural voyage to the moon – the world’s first privately funded lunar mission – will begin on Feb. 21 at approximately 8:45 p.m. EST, when the lunar lander “Beresheet” (“In the Beginning”)… Read more »

ORLANDO, Fla. (JTA) — Growing up, Josh Boloña was just like a lot of kids in South Florida: He was a Latino immigrant, from Ecuador, in an area with a lot of Latino immigrants. He was a Jewish kid in an area with many Jews. He was a soccer… Read more »

(JTA) — Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan blamed “the wicked Jews” for the crisis over anti-Semitism and the Women’s March. “The most beautiful sight that I could lay eyes on when I saw, the day after Trump was elected, women from all over the world were standing in… Read more »

(JTA) — In a brief confidential conference call with Jewish organizations, Rep. Ilhan Omar apologized for any hurt caused by her tweets suggesting that AIPAC pays politicians to support Israel. “Let me reiterate my sincere apology for any actual hurt my words have caused,” Omar, a freshman Democratic congresswoman… Read more »