OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA These are troubling times. Anti-Semitic threats and messages are escalating all around us. Three weeks ago, the words “Hail Hitler” (sic) were found scrawled on an exhibit inside our Holocaust History Center. March 5, a man brazenly unfurled a Nazi flag as Senator Bernie Sanders took the stage at… Read more »
Jewish man reads passages from the Passover Haggadah (the story of Passover) during a Passover seder in North York, Ontario, Canada on, April 19, 2019. (Photo by Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Rena Munster was looking forward to hosting a Passover seder for the first time. In past years, her parents or another relative hosted the meal. But this year she had invited her parents, siblings and other extended family to her Washington, D.C., home. Her husband, an amateur ceramics artist,… Read more »
Members of the Asian American Commission hold a news conference on the steps of the Massachusetts State House in Boston to condemn racism toward the Asian- American community because of the coronavirus, March 12, 2020. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — In recent weeks, we’ve seen an unprecedented epidemic of the coronavirus spread across the world. Unfortunately, we’ve also seen a spike in anti-Asian violence and prejudice. In the U.S., racist and xenophobic outbursts, assaults and discriminatory practices against Asian Americans have been reported from coast to… Read more »
The doorman and the roof of the Waldorf Astoria in Jerusalem (Laura Ben-David)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — For the young and healthy, the coronavirus itself is likely to be mostly an inconvenience. But for many workers, the COVID-19 pandemic could literally cost them their livelihoods. Obviously, many of us are deeply concerned about catching the highly contagious respiratory illness or about the growing… Read more »
A sanitary gel is used as a precaution against the coronavirus. (Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
PHOENIX (JTA) — I am not a medical professional, an epidemiologist or an expert on pandemics. I leave the serious information in those important fields for the professionals who have the appropriate training to help us get through the coronavirus epidemic. Even though I do not possess medical knowledge,… Read more »
(FotografiaBasica)
This story originally appeared on Kveller. Six months ago, after giving birth to a beautiful son (our third!), we gave up on the delusion of being a cool urban family and moved from the Upper West Side of Manhattan to New Rochelle, in New York’s suburban Westchester County. We… Read more »
Joe Biden made an appearance via video and Mike Bloomberg turned up in person. So did Mike Pence. Even the coronavirus got a shoutout. Despite threats of a boycott by Democrats and anxieties about communicable diseases, this year’s annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee was… Read more »
The Quran tells us red and yellow are the most distracting colors, the ones that should not ever be used for a prayer rug,” the imam tells us, looking down at the red and yellow rug beneath our feet in the mosque. He adds, “It was a donation, there… Read more »
President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrive for an announcement of Trump's Middle East peace plan at the White House, Jan. 28, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Fifteen years ago, I wrote a piece for The Washington Post titled “Israel’s Lawyer.” The conceit was pretty simple, though in some quarters it was seen as highly provocative: For too long, too many senior U.S. officials working on the Arab-Israeli peace process, including myself, had… Read more »
Sen. Bernie Sanders against a backdrop of an AIPAC annual policy conference. (Getty Images/JTA Montage)
BERKELEY, Calif. (JTA) — For the casual observer, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ recent pronouncement that he is skipping the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee out of a “concern about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights” might seem like… Read more »
Elizabeth Warren speaks at a campaign rally on the campus of Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Feb. 1, 2020. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(JTA) — This is the fourth op-ed in a series of pieces about anti-Semitism and Jewish issues written by 2020 presidential candidates. This one is by Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has sent five questions about anti-Semitism and Jewish issues to all of… Read more »
Palestinian boys head towards the "Green Line" that separates the Arab village of Bartaa, which straddles the 1967 border between Israel and the northwestern tip of the West Bank, April 29, 2012. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/GettyImages)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Election rallies for the Arab parties in Israel rarely garner much attention or excitement. But recent policy proposals engineered thousands of miles away may have re-energized a once stagnant and unreliable voting bloc. The peaceful Arab village of Bartaa, home to about 4,500 residents, is located in… Read more »
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at at a campaign rally in Austin, Texas, Feb. 23, 2020. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — On Sunday night, Sen. Bernie Sanders announced via tweet that he would not be attending the upcoming AIPAC policy conference in Washington, D.C., accusing the pro-Israel lobby of being a platform for “bigotry.” His statement came one week after his campaign released a video about… Read more »
Hasidic Jewish rapper Nissim Black and scenes from his latest single, "Mothaland Bounce." (JTA Montage)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Fans of mainstream Jewish music may find Nissim Black’s latest single “Mothaland Bounce” jarring and alien, but they’re just not listening with an ear to the rhythm of Jewish history. Set against the aural backdrop of an African basso profundo beat, and framed by scenes… Read more »
Alma Hernandez A House panel agreed to add “anti-Semitism” to what is considered a hate crime amid questions of exactly what that includes — and what that change in state law would mean to those who are accused of those crimes. HB 2683 requires the Department of Public Safety to collect… Read more »
On Feb. 21, 2020, the Jewish History Museum will mark four years since the opening of the Holocaust History Center and the expansion of the museum’s campus. The creation of the Holocaust History Center marked the realization of a decades-old community aspiration that began in the 1960s when local Holocaust… Read more »
Background: the AIPAC Conference in Washington, March 6, 2018 (Haim Zach/GPO); foreground: Rep. Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat who called AIPAC a "hate group." (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — AIPAC is coming, but no one knows who’s speaking. Just about two weeks before the activists come to town for the largest U.S. Israel lobby’s annual conference, AIPAC has no speakers listed on its convention website, though I’ve been told it will be posted in the… Read more »
(Screenshot from BBC One)
This story originally appeared on Alma. I’ve been a huge fan of “Doctor Who” for years, so when I saw in the trailer for the new season that the iconic time traveler’s adventures were going to feature a story set in Nazi-occupied Paris, I thought — finally. After 57… Read more »
Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg holds a campaign rally in Detroit, Feb. 4, 2020. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
(JTA) — The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has sent five questions about anti-Semitism and Jewish issues to all of the registered presidential candidates from both parties. You can read Vice President Joe Biden’s responses here and Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s responses here. 1. Anti-Semitic hate crimes are currently on the rise across… Read more »
The Arab League held an emergency meeting to discuss the U.S.-brokered proposal for a settlement of the Middle East conflict at the league headquarters in Cairo, Feb. 1, 2020. (Khaled Desouki/AFP via Getty Images)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan will probably not achieve its stated goal of bringing peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but it might just bring about peace between Israel and more of its Arab neighbors. Here’s why. Over the past several years, Israel… Read more »
