National

Israel emerges as campaign issue ahead of voting in 3 big Jewish states

Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio speaking at a news conference at Temple Beth El in West Palm Beach, Fla., March 11, 2016. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
March 15, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

  WASHINGTON (JTA) – Israel has prominently emerged as a presidential campaign issue ahead of critical primary contests in five states on Tuesday, three of which – Ohio, Illinois and Florida – have substantial Jewish communities. Israel was the subject of a heated exchange in the Republican debate last… Read more »

These may be America’s proudest Shabbos goys

Samir Patel, left, with an associate and his father, right, says he gets about five requests each Saturday to act as a Shabbos goy for Orthodox Jews. (Uriel Heilman)
March 13, 2016 / Uriel Heilman, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) – For Samir Patel, the term “goy” is no slur. It’s a point of pride. Patel is a manager of Suhag Wine & Liquors, a family-owned business in the heavily Orthodox neighborhood of Kew Gardens Hills, in Queens. He’s a Hindu immigrant from India, but the vast majority… Read more »

With Michigan upset, Bernie Sanders shows he can compete in big state primaries

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders acknowledging supporters at a campaign rally in Miami, March 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
March 9, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

ANALYSIS WASHINGTON (JTA) – Can Bernie Sanders actually win it? With his surprising victory in the Michigan primary by 2 percentage points on Tuesday — after trailing Hillary Clinton by double digits in the polls — the possibility has inched a little closer to reality. To be sure, Sanders still trails… Read more »

Biden, Netanyahu condemn Abbas for silence over terror attacks

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, March 9, 2016. (Hillel Maeir/TPS)
March 9, 2016 / Alexander J. Apfel, TPS

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a much-anticipated press conference with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday afternoon, March 9, in which the two criticized Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for his failure to denounce the wave of terror. Following Netanyahu’s statement, Biden stated his disapproval of Abbas’ failure… Read more »

To understand the American Jews who support Trump, read this

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Concord, N.C., March 7, 2016. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
March 9, 2016 / Uriel Heilman, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) – America’s political system is broken, and the last thing the country needs is another career politician at the helm. With money more than ever a corrupting influence in politics, the White House should be occupied by someone who isn’t beholden to well-funded lobbyists or super… Read more »

In Flint crisis, Jews pitching in with corned beef, Dr. Brown’s — and water

Volunteers loading cases of free water into waiting vehicles at a water distribution center in Flint, Mich., March 5, 2016. (Geoff Robins/AFP/Getty Images)
March 9, 2016 / David Stanley, JTA

FLINT, Mich. (JTA) – At 86, Jeanne Aaronson is blind and lives alone, but she has seen a lot over the years. She lived in Flint when it was a manufacturing powerhouse, a center of the automotive business and a symbol of American industrial might and ingenuity. She lived… Read more »

American business student killed in mass stabbing in Tel Aviv
March 8, 2016 /

(JTA) — A 29-year-old American business school student was killed in a stabbing attack in the Jaffa area of Tel Aviv. Taylor Force, a student at the Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management, was on a school trip to Israel when he was killed Tuesday evening, the university said. As… Read more »

Prospect of Trump nomination poses dilemma for Jewish Republicans

Donald Trump arriving at a rally at Radford University in Virginia, Feb. 29, 2016. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
March 3, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Many Jewish Republicans look increasingly likely to face a dilemma in November unimaginable just a year ago: loyalty to party or community. Donald Trump’s surging candidacy has sent shivers through the ranks of the Republican elite and created deep anxiety among Jewish Republicans, some of whom… Read more »

Obama weighs in on BDS settlement fight — but battle likely won’t end there

President Barack Obama signing the Trade Facilitation and Enforcement Act of 2015 at an Oval Office ceremony, Feb. 24, 2016. (Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images)
February 28, 2016 /

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The controversy over whether laws protecting Israel from boycotts should include West Bank settlements found its way into a presidential signing statement last week, but President Barack Obama’s decision to ignore a trade law’s requirement to oppose boycotts of Israeli settlements likely won’t settle the argument.… Read more »

Anti-BDS laws gain momentum across US, but some say they go too far

Muslim students at an anti-Israel protest at the University of California, Irvine in 2006. (Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
February 24, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Nearly half the states in the country are considering legislation aimed at countering the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, movement. But critics say some bills are cause for concern, either because they seek to legitimize Israeli settlements or go so far in punishing boycott supporters they… Read more »

Nevada Jewish vote in question due to Shabbat date, caucus confusion

Volunteers working the phones at a suburban Las Vegas office of the Hillary Clinton campaign while watching a debate between Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, Feb. 11, 2016. (Ron Kampeas)
February 17, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

LAS VEGAS (JTA) – Jewish voters in Nevada suffer the same affliction as anyone else ahead of caucuses in the presidential race: No one is quite sure how the damn system works. “A big part of what we do is to educate people about what a caucus is,” said… Read more »

Jewish leaders remember the unforgettable Justice Antonin Scalia

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia speaks at Agudath Israel's annual dinner at the New York Hilton, June 1, 2008. (Menachem Adelman)
February 16, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Justice Antonin Scalia was a larger-than-life presence on the Supreme Court, where he championed a conservative judicial approach for three decades. He was found dead on Saturday at a resort in West Texas at the age of 79. Scalia‘s outsize personality left an impression off the bench,… Read more »

Here’s a look at Justice Scalia’s Jewy moments

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia addresses the Legal Services Corp.'s 40th anniversary conference luncheon in Washington, D.C., Sept. 15, 2014. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
February 16, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — It’s a matter of dispute as to whether Antonin Scalia, who died Saturday, was the Supreme Court’s most conservative jurist. Some think Clarence Thomas deserves the title, while others say Samuel Alito may soon claim it. Scalia was, however, the conservative jurist likeliest to stir passions… Read more »

How Justice Scalia’s death impacts 6 cases that matter to Jews

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia waits to be introduced to speak at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., Oct. 2, 2012. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
February 16, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

(JTA) — With the sudden passing this weekend of Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court is now split 4-4 between liberals and conservatives, throwing into doubt how the court will rule on a raft of cases — including several watched by Jewish organizations. Scalia, who was 79, is being… Read more »

REMEMBRANCE The Supreme Court’s Jewish gentile: My memories of Justice Scalia

From left, Nathan Lewin, Sima Soumekhian, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Marc Zweben at the Char Bar in Washington, D.C., the kosher restaurant owned by Soumekhian and Zweben, May 2015. (Alyza Lewin)
February 16, 2016 / Nathan Lewin, JTA

  WASHINGTON (JTA) – “When there was no Jewish justice on the Supreme Court,” Antonin “Nino”Scalia told me, “I considered myself the Jewish justice.” After Abe Fortas resigned in May 1969, there would be no Jewish justice on the court for nearly a quarter of a century, until President… Read more »

Why Bernie Sanders’ historic victory is no big deal to Jews – or America

Bernie Sanders making his victory speech in Concord after winning the New Hampshire Democratic primary, Feb. 9, 2016. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)
February 10, 2016 / Daniel Treiman, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — Bernie Sanders is having a month of historic firsts. In New Hampshire on Tuesday night, he handily won the Democratic Party contest, becoming the first Jew to win a presidential primary. In Iowa, he became the first Jewish presidential candidate — the first non-Christian, even… Read more »

Bernie Sanders wins New Hampshire primary, makes Jewish history

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., speaking at a Get Out the Vote rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, Feb. 8, 2016. (Meredith Dake-O'Connor/CQ Roll Call)
February 10, 2016 / JTA

(JTA) – Bernie Sanders made history Tuesday night when he became the first Jewish candidate in U.S. history to win a presidential primary election. With the vote results in New Hampshire still trickling in, the Independent senator from Vermont was projected to handily defeat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in… Read more »

Did Bernie Sanders just steal Joe Lieberman’s Jewish crown?

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., waving on election day in Concord, New Hampshire, Feb. 9, 2016. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
February 10, 2016 / Ami Eden, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — Maybe now that Bernie Sanders has become the first Jewish candidate to win a presidential primary he’ll start getting the Joe Lieberman treatment. Back in 2000, Al Gore’s decision to tap Lieberman as his running mate set off what felt like a months-long national bar mitzvah… Read more »

50 years on, Bernie Sanders still champions values of his Israeli kibbutz

A photo of Kibbutz Shaar Haamakim as it was in 1963, when Bernie Sanders volunteered there for several months. (Ben Sales)
February 9, 2016 / Ben Sales, JTA

SHAAR HAAMAKIM, Israel (JTA) — Every morning, Bernie Sanders would wake up at 4:10 a.m. to pick apples and pears. Leaving the cabin he shared with a few other American college student volunteers, Sanders would have a quick bite of bread before heading out to the orchard. After 2… Read more »