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.
Sam Kestenbaum
By Sam Kestenbaum
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Fast Forward Old-Line White Supremacists Try To Jump On ‘Alt-Right’ Bandwagon
An older generation of white supremacists are piggybacking on the “alt-right” as a way to stay relevant — but the tactic might not work out in the long run, according to a new blog post from the Anti-Defamation League. Former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke, for example, has latched himself to…
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News Christians Celebrate The High Holidays, Too — But Are They Welcome At Synagogue?
Paula White, the charismatic megachurch leader and spiritual adviser to Donald Trump, fasts on Yom Kippur and urges her millions of followers to do the same. They’re also supposed to reflect on “the atoning blood of Jesus.” “The Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, is God’s biblical holy day that He established on Israel’s calendar…
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Fast Forward Why Did This Hip-hop DJ Get An Anne Frank Face Tattoo?
A young Los Angels hip-hop producer named Louis Gutierrez is showing off his new tattoo — a large portrait of Holocaust victim Anne Frank, dramatically covering half his face. Gutierrez, who goes by the stage name ArnoldisDead, sparked some controversy with the move, The Jerusalem Post reported. But in an interview with a Vice journalist,…
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Fast Forward Sheriff Joe Arpaio Appears On Holocaust-Denying Website
Controversial former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio has been lying low since being pardoned by President Donald Trump last month, but recently Arpaio broke his silence — and granted an interview with a Holocaust-denying website. In a September 15 interview with the American Free Press — titled “Arapio Bypasses the Fake Media” — Arpaio discussed his…
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Fast Forward Hasidic Crown Heights Hit With ‘Filthy Jews’ Vandalism
The Hasidic section of Crown Heights saw two acts of anti-Semitic vandalism over the weekend, according to social media reports. “To the ‘Jews,’ how many was raped, killed and sacrificed to have this street all yours?” someone had scrawled on a park bench. And on a dollar bill given as change at a kosher coffee…
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Fast Forward Pepe The Frog Creator Sues To Take His Meme Back From ‘Alt-Right’
Pepe the Frog creator Matt Furie is taking new legal action against the “alt-right” for using illustrations of his cartoon, the amphibian character that has become an iconic meme of the far-right. Furie has protested the transformation of his cartoon character into a cartoon associated with racism and anti-Semitism and is seeking to disassociate the…
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News Trump Era Sparks ‘Tectonic Shift’ For Liberal Jewish Activism
Each year of Barack Obama’s presidency, hundreds of rabbis from all denominations had an annual heart-to-heart with him during a High Holidays conference call. Why is this year different? A coalition representing thousands of rabbis from the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements opted out. They said they couldn’t countenance such a connection with Trump after…
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Fast Forward White Nationalists Blame Schumer And ‘Leftist Jews’ For Sabotaging Trump On Immigration
A popular white nationalist blog is vilifying Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and blaming “leftist Jews,” for sabotaging President Trump’s promised plans to stem immigration. “Let’s just be real here, Brothers, it’s pretty damned bad, an author going by the name Marcus Cicero wrote on the website Occidental Dissent, responding to news of Trump moving…
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Fast Forward ‘Rabbi rebellion’: 33 Orthodox rabbis endorse Harris
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Opinion I was a Bernie supporter. This year, I’m voting Trump. Here’s why liberal Jews like me made the switch
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Opinion Here’s why Orthodox Jews are loyal to Trump — even if they don’t love him
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FIRST PERSON As a rabbi, he helped others mourn. So why wouldn’t his daughter say kaddish for him?
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Fast Forward Exit poll: 77% of Jewish voters back Harris over Trump
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Fast Forward Meet Josh Stein, North Carolina’s first Jewish governor-elect
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Fast Forward Pro-Trump PACs back more misleading ads about Harris and Israel in final bid for swing-state voters
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Fast Forward Thirsty Philly voters were in for a surprise: Paul Rudd and some handy hydration
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