Tagged Charlottesville

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 »

Trump calls on Ilhan Omar to resign from Congress for ‘anti-Semitism’

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump called on Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., to resign from Congress for what he said was her anti-Semitism. “It’s terrible what she said and I think she should either resign from Congress, or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee,” Trump… Read more »

Deborah Lipstadt wrote a book on anti-Semitism. Then Pittsburgh happened.

Deborah Lipstadt, author of the forthcoming book "Antisemitism Here and Now," says the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting reaffirmed her warnings. (Osnat Perelshtein)

NEW YORK (JTA) — The advance copies of Deborah Lipstadt’s new book, “Antisemitism Here and Now,” display a cover photo of white supremacist carrying a tiki torch. But that iconic image of the August 2017 white power rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, could now be replaced by another one: Police… Read more »

OP-ED: One year after Charlottesville, white supremacists have not faded away

Carlos Galindo-Elvira

On Aug. 12, 2017, the nation was gripped by the shocking scene of hundreds of white supremacists taking to the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, bellowing racist and anti-Semitic chants. While some wore polo shirts and others waved Nazi flags, their message was clear: non-whites and minorities have no place… Read more »

A year after Charlottesville, the ‘alt-right’ is not so united. But some of its ideas have gone mainstream.

Richard Spencer at a press conference at the University of Florida, in Gainesville, Oct. 19, 2017. (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — On Sunday, Aug. 12, Unite the Right, the agglomeration of far-right groups that organized the deadly Charlottesville, Virginia, rally last year, hopes to meet there again on its anniversary. Likely missing from the 2018 rally, if courts allow it to take place: armed individuals and groups, by… Read more »

New Jewish security chief surveys a changing landscape of hate

Michael Masters rose through police ranks in Chicago and elsewhere in Cook County, Ill. (Andrew Collings/Jewish Federations of North America)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. Jewish community is more secure than it was a decade ago but must brace for new challenges, according to the officials who oversee communal security. These include lone wolves weaponizing easy-to-access items like cars; increasingly disruptive protests on campuses; the persistence of attackers inspired… Read more »

Richard Spencer will soon speak at the university with the largest Jewish student body in the US

White supremacist leader Richard Spencer, center, and supporters clashing with police after the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., was declared unlawful, Aug. 12, 2017. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

(JTA) — The University of Florida, home to the largest Jewish student body in the country, is bracing for an upcoming speech on campus by white supremacist leader Richard Spencer. Only six weeks after Hurricane Irma wrought destruction in Florida, Gov. Rick Scott declared another state of emergency, this… Read more »

The top 10 moments that mattered to Jews in 5777

(JTA) — This Jewish year was not a quiet one, to say the least. From the tumultuous first eight months of Donald Trump’s presidency, to a wave of bomb threats against Jewish community centers, to a neo-Nazi protest in Charlottesville that turned violent, to the twin weather catastrophes of… Read more »

OP-ED From Rome to Charlottesville, a statue is never just a statue

The Arch of Titus at the Imperial Forums in Rome. (DeAgostini/Getty Images)

  NEW YORK (JTA) — French historian Pierre Nora spent his life describing and explaining “places of memory,” sites commemorating significant moments in the history of a community that continue to resonate and transform from generation to generation. For the French Republic, the Arc de Triomphe is one such… Read more »

UA panel to address significance of controversial monuments

What: “White Supremacy, Monuments and Memory: Charlottesville in Historical Context,” a panel discussion with experts from the University of Arizona history department When: 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 30 Where: Integrated Learning Center, 1500 E. University Blvd., Room 120 TUCSON, Ariz. — In light of recent events, cities across the… Read more »

How Rabbi Shai Held is shaping the conversation around love and politics

Rabbi Shai Held, a co-founder of Mechon Hadar, a traditional egalitarian yeshiva, has just released a book of Torah commentaries. (Courtesy of Mechon Hadar)

NEW YORK (JTA) — After the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, voices abounded calling the demonstration an affront to American values. Rabbi Shai Held called it an attack on God. “One of the most fundamental claims Judaism makes about the world is that every human being on the face… Read more »

American mayors’ group, ADL announce agreement to combat hate

NEW YORK (JTA) — The mayors of America’s largest cities are launching a partnership with the Anti-Defamation League to combat hate and bigotry. Nearly 200 mayors have joined the agreement, which was announced Friday, since it was first circulated Tuesday night among the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The mayors… Read more »

Trump has decided to remove Stephen Bannon

(JTA) — President Donald Trump has decided to remove White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon. Two administration officials told The New York Times on Friday about Trump’s decision. However, they cautioned that the president might not act on his decision for “some time.” A source close to Bannon told the Times… Read more »

I am a rabbi, and my place was in Charlottesville

The scene at the entrance to Emancipation Park during the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., Aug. 12, 2017. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

(JTA) — I was in Charlottesville on Saturday. I felt called to go because white supremacy is a hateful ideology that has murdered millions throughout history and continues to kill. I went because my family and ancestors suffered at the hands of anti-Semites throughout history, because I bear their… Read more »

OP-ED Our president just asked us to be fair to white supremacists

President Donald Trump speaking to the media at Trump Tower in New York City, Aug. 15, 2017. Looking on, from left, are Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council; Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin; Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao; and Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (JTA) — There was a moment in his “neo-Nazi, neo-Shmazi” news conference where you might have found yourself thinking, maybe President Trump is right. On the narrow question of who was responsible for the violence in Charlottesville, a prosecutor might note that punches were thrown by white… Read more »

What you need to know about antifa, the group that fought white supremacists in Charlottesville

Protesters and counterprotesters clashing at Emancipation Park in Charlottesville, Va., Aug. 12, 2017. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

(JTA) — Is it OK to punch a Nazi in the face? That’s the question animating much of the discussion of Saturday’s white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which quickly devolved into a brawl between rally-goers and a contingent of anti-fascist counterprotesters known as antifa. Following the clashes, a… Read more »

Hate in Charlottesville: The day the Nazi called me Shlomo

White supremacists rally in Charlottesville, Va., Aug. 12, 2017. (Ron Kampeas)

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (JTA) — The white supremacists, for all their vaunted purpose, appeared to be disoriented. Some 500 had gathered at a park here Saturday to protest this southern Virginia city’s plans to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the park. Pressured by the American Civil Liberties… Read more »

A guide to the far-right groups that protested in Charlottesville

White supremacists spar with counterprotesters as they attempt to guard the entrance to Emancipation Park in Charlottesville, Va., Aug. 12, 2017. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

(JTA) — They believe the “white race” is in danger. They believe the United States was built by and for white people and must now embrace fascism. They believe minorities are taking over the country. And they believe an international Jewish conspiracy is behind the threat. These are the… Read more »