Sam Kestenbaum is a contributing editor and former staff writer for the Forward. Before this, he worked for The New York Times and newsrooms in Sana, Ramallah and Beijing. Contact him at kestenbaum@forward.com and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum and on Instagram at @skestenbaum.
Several neighborhoods in Jacksonville, Florida were littered with flyers containing messages from the Ku Klux Klan over the past few days — including anti-black and anti-Semitic messages. One of the flyers contains threats against African-Americans who are caught “making eyes” at white women, NBC reported. The flyer also says that “the only ‘good Jew’ is…
White supremacists on the “alt-right” are gleefully jumping on accusations that Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed employees and actresses for decades as “evidence” of their anti-Semitic worldview. Pointing to Weinstein, some on the far right say his story illustrates that Jews have a perverse and degenerative effect on American society — and are contributing…
Jewish conservative Ben Shapiro is standing behind the publication of a Columbus Day video on his website the Daily Wire that depicted Native Americans as simple-minded cannibals — despite criticism that the clip was racist. —@benshapiro tells me he’s on vacation/didn’t green light @realDailyWire’s Columbus Day vid, but says it’s satire & should be judged…
Students at Washington University in St. Louis are protesting the school’s invitation of Jewish rapper Lil Dicky to perform at a fall music festival called Wild. The critics have dubbed him a “known racist” who is appropriating black culture for personal gain. In a report last week in the school newspaper, a group of 16…
The gubernatorial election in Georgia is a ways away, but Republicans vying for the position are already lining up, including one unlikely candidate who has never held political office before — and who just declared himself a Messianic Jew. Marc Allen Urbach, a Marietta man who is a patron of Jewish War Veterans USA, faced…
In a rare interview, the charismatic leader of a prominent Hebrew Israelite group welcomed the support of spiritually-seeking celebrities like Kendrick Lamar. But he candidly warned the superstar against publicly linking himself too closely to the Israelite community — because of possible blowback from fans and the mainstream media. “It would be better for Kendrick…
Donald Trump enjoyed majority support from Orthodox Jews during the election. But a growing number of observant Jews are stepping forward to decry the president — and they are going public with their opposition at this weekend’s nationwide protests against racism. A Facebook group called Torah Trumps Hate, formed days after the election, has mushroomed to…
Celebrity rabbi Shmuley Boteach took to Twitter to comment on the passing of Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner — and recall the strange relationship that the rabbi had with the famed porno magazine. “What is Hugh Hefner’s legacy?” Boteach asked on Twitter. “Pamela Anderson told me @Playboy could empower women. I think it exploited them. What…
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