National

How Jews have reacted to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s concentration camp comments

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, pictured at the National Action Network's annual convention in April, has drawn fire for calling migrant detention centers "concentration camps." (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
June 25, 2019 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been getting plenty of criticism since referring to migrant detention centers at the U.S.-Mexico border as “concentration camps.” “The U.S. is running concentration camps on our southern border, and that is exactly what they are,” the freshman New York Democrat said June… Read more »

Harvard dropped a Jewish pro-gun Parkland student over past racist comments. Was it justifed?

Kyle Kashuv attends Politicon 2018 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Oct. 20, 2018. (Michael S. Schwartz/Getty Images)
June 18, 2019 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — Kyle Kashuv rose to prominence after having survived the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. While some of his classmates went on to become gun reform activists on the left, Kashuv took a different course. A self-described political conservative, the… Read more »

The Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez concentration camp debate, explained

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is interviewed at the SXSW Conference and Festival at the Austin Convention Center in Texas, March 9, 2019. (Jim Bennett/WireImage/Getty Images)
June 18, 2019 / JTA Staff

NEW YORK (JTA) — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised a ruckus when she said detention centers holding undocumented immigrants on the southern border are “concentration camps.” “The U.S. is running concentration camps on our southern border, and that is exactly what they are,” the freshman New York Democrat said Monday… Read more »

Jewish directors dominate at Tony Awards
June 10, 2019 /

(JTA) — “Hadestown,” a musical about the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and the underworld, won best new musical at the Tony Awards, and a coveted prize for its Jewish director. Rachel Chavkin won the Tony Award for best director of a musical for “Hadestown,” the tenth woman… Read more »

Bernie Sanders: Politico article on my wealth was anti-Semitic
June 4, 2019 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., among the leading candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, said a Politico story on his wealth that called him “cheap” was anti-Semitic. “Call that what it is, an anti-Semitic article,” Sanders said Saturday in an interview with the progressive political online show,… Read more »

What Jewish law really says about abortion

Protesters on both sides of the abortion issue gather in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building during the Right To Life March in Washington, Jan. 18, 2019. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
May 31, 2019 / Ephraim Sherman, JTA

(JTA) – Alabama and Georgia have passed laws recently that limit or forbid abortions in unprecedented ways, joining a growing number of states that are attempting to dramatically restrict abortion access. During these charged times, it is appropriate for the Jewish community to remind ourselves that halacha (Jewish law) has a… Read more »

Meet the Jewish lawyer representing clients at the country’s strictest immigration court

Marty Rosenbluth is the only private immigration lawyer in a small Georgia town near a large immigrant detention center. (Courtesy of Rosenbluth)
May 29, 2019 / Ben Sales, JTA

(JTA) — Most of the year, Marty Rosenbluth lives alone in a small house in Lumpkin, a Georgia town with 2,000 residents and one restaurant. It’s 500 miles away from his wife and community in North Carolina. Then he drives two miles down the road to a place even… Read more »

Dayton Jews are cautioned to keep away from KKK rally
May 23, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

(JTA) — The director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Dayton called on the Jewish public to avoid a KKK rally set for Saturday in the Ohio city. Rabbi Ari Ballaban said in a statement issued earlier this week that a counter rally scheduled to take place right… Read more »

A Jewish woman makes a stand at one of Alabama’s last abortion clinics

An anti-abortion sign is placed outside of the Reproductive Health Services building in Montgomery, Ala., where Diane Weil volunteers, May 20, 2019. (Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images)
May 23, 2019 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

(JTA) — Early on Friday mornings, Diane Weil leaves her house in Montgomery, Alabama, with an umbrella. The 64-year-old registered nurse doesn’t need it to shield her from the rain. Instead she uses it to block patients from protesters who come to the health clinic where she has been… Read more »

This woman organized a Passover seder for 9 senators at 30,000 feet over Vietnam

Jill Cooper Udall leads a seder aboard a U.S. military aircraft 30,000 feet over Vietnam, April 19, 2019. (Courtesy of Cooper Udall)
May 22, 2019 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Air National Guard pilot gave Jill Cooper Udall the all-clear: There were storm warnings, but she had 10 turbulence-free minutes to get through her seder. Cooper Udall, who is married to Tom Udall, a Democrat and the senior senator from New Mexico, waved the 25… Read more »

How Debra Katz became one of the nation’s top #MeToo lawyers

Debra Katz, left, looks on as Christine Blasey Ford testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sept. 27, 2018. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
May 22, 2019 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

(JTA) — Fighting for the underdog has been a passion for Debra Katz for as long as she can remember. Years before she would go on to win awards for her work as a civil rights attorney and represent Christine Blasey Ford in one of the nation’s most high-profile… Read more »

U.S. synagogues need what Europeans have — armed guards
May 17, 2019 / Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, JTA Moscow

Whether it’s a white supremacist targeting praying Jews, blacks, or Muslims, or an Islamic radical committed to killing Christians on Easter Sunday, it has become very trendy to attack houses of worship. In Europe, synagogues, unfortunately, have been targeted by terrorists for quite some time, including deadly attacks at… Read more »