National

Nadler criticizes Tlaib and Omar for sharing controversial cartoon

NEW YORK (JTA) — Rep. Jerry Nadler criticized fellow Democrats Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib for sharing a cartoon that shows President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu covering their mouths. Omar, D-Minn., and Tlaib, D-Mich., were criticized for sharing it last week because the cartoonist Carlos… Read more »

Tucsonans join Tisha b’Av vigils protesting migrant deaths

Allison Stuewe reads while Marc Goodman blows the shofar and Deborah Mayaan demonstrates movement to release grief during a Jewish Voice for Peace Tisha b’Av vigil at Tucson’s Historic Y on Aug. 10. (Brooke Hotez)

More than 50 Jewish demonstrations were held across the country last weekend in opposition to U.S. immigration policy and to mark Tisha b’Av, the traditional Jewish day of mourning. The call to action came from T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights and other organizations, including the refugee aid… Read more »

As a Mexican-Jewish lawmaker, I feel doubly targeted by hateful rhetoric

Alma Hernandez (center) with her family at her naming ceremony at Congregation Chaverim, April 8, 2016. (Courtesy Hernandez)

I  am proud to be Jewish, Latina and bilingual. I have the honor of representing the state House of Representatives district where I was born and raised in Arizona. My home in Tucson is less than one hour away from the U.S.-Mexico border. Tucson and El Paso in many… Read more »

ICE officer who drove into Jewish demonstrators placed on leave as 5 protesters hospitalized

Undocumented Mexican immigrants are photographed while being processed at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement center in Phoenix, Ariz., April 28, 2010. (John Moore/Getty Images)

(JTA) — The Immigration and Customs Enforcement official who drove a pickup truck into a row of Jewish protesters in Rhode Island has been placed on leave, and police have announced that they will investigate the incident. Five of the protesters were hospitalized, according to Tal Frieden, an organizer… Read more »

Ilhan Omar likens Israel banning her to Trump’s travel ban

(JTA) — Rep. Ilhan Omar likened Israel’s decision to deny entry to her and Rep. Rashida Tlaib to President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., tweeted that the decision is “a sign of weakness.” In a statement Thursday, the Minnesota Democrat called Israel’s decision “an affront.” “Trump’s… Read more »

NY Jewish schools are fighting a proposal that would force many yeshivas to increase secular education (and they’re not alone)

Pedestrians walk past a yeshiva in the South Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, April 9, 2019. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Orthodox yeshivas, Catholic schools and elite private schools in New York are coming together to oppose a government initiative that would more clearly define what they are required to teach. The proposal, a set of regulations from the state Department of Education, aims to ensure… Read more »

Israel has been barring lawmakers of friendly nations for years (just not from the US)

French lawmaker Clementine Autain participating at a demonstration in Paris, France on April 19, 2018. (Michel Stoupak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

(JTA) — When Israel announced that it would deny entry to Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the decision struck many as an unprecedented step. But Israel has blocked multiple lawmakers from coming in recent years. The difference this time is that it’s lawmakers from the United States who are… Read more »

Gal Gadot to play Hedy Lamarr in series

It’s official: Gal Gadot will portray Jewish actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr in a Showtime limited series. The cable network made the announcement on Aug. 9. Gadot had been rumored as the leading candidate for the role for about a year. The Israeli actress and her husband, Yaron Varsano,… Read more »

Israel confirms it is banning Tlaib and Omar from entering country

(JTA) — Israel’s deputy foreign minister confirmed that Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar will not be allowed to enter the country. “We won’t allow those who deny our right to exist in this world to enter Israel. In principle this is a very justified decision,” Tzipi Hotovely told… Read more »

‘We’ve lost a part of ourselves’: El Paso’s diverse Jewish community grapples with a mass shooting

From left to right, Rabbis Ben Zeidman and Scott Rosenberg speak at an interfaith vigil with Msgr. Arturo Banuelas following the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, Aug. 4, 2019. (Jordyn Rozensky/ Frontera Studio)

(JTA) — Joseph Charter used to feel safe in El Paso. But after Saturday, when a gunman killed 22 people and injured 26 at a Walmart store in the Texas city, everything changed. “I had to go to Target the following day, and for the first time ever I… Read more »

Palestinian and Israeli discovered a shared past when they met as Washington interns

Mohammed Ahmad, left, and Eran Nissan speak at a New Voices Leadership event on Capitol Hill, July 11, 2019. (Ron Kampeas)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In its 10 years of placing young Palestinian and Israeli leaders with Congress members, no lawmaker asked New Story Leadership for one of each — until Jamie Raskin did. This summer, Eran Nissan and Mohammed Ahmad have been interning in the office of the Maryland Democrat,… Read more »

Meet the ‘Anti-Squad’: Rep. Elissa Slotkin and her ‘gang’ offer Democrats a path of moderation

Rep. Elissa Slotkin speaks to Alan Caldwell at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Lansing, Mich., July 30, 2019. (Ron Kampeas)

LANSING, Michigan (JTA) — Tom Dalton could be the poster boy for Elissa Slotkin’s path to a second term and, she would argue, to Democrats keeping the U.S. House of Representatives. The 67-year-old Vietnam navy vet routinely votes Republican — but says he would not hesitate to vote for… Read more »