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.
Among the Igbo, one of Nigeria’s largest ethnic groups, there is widespread identification with Jews, and many see themselves as descendants of the biblical Israelites. But a recent test to determine if a group of Igbo men share genetic material with Jews is back — and no connection was found. Even before the results were…
The city of Charlottesville, Va., is preparing for an influx of white nationalists from across the country ahead of Saturday’s “Unite the Right” rally. In a detailed report, the Anti-Defamation League described the rally as potentially “the largest public gathering of white supremacists in at least a decade.” As many as 500 Unite the Right…
The Anti-Defamation League condemned a Hebrew Israelite group as “anti-Semitic and racist” in a report last week, highlighting an incident this summer where a passerby walking near the group on a street corner was punched to the ground. Sicarii is a small but active California faction within the much broader Hebrew Israelite movement. While all…
An Orthodox community is in the midst of a philosophical crisis that’s pitting hard-line rationalists against New Age-leaning mystics — and the publication of a new book by a well-known rabbi has exposed and intensified the struggle. In his recently published “Alternative Medicine in Halakhah,” Lakewood, New Jersey rabbi Rephoel Szmerla gives Jewish legal justifications…
A new website is positioned to become the go-to crowdfunding platform for the “alt-right.” It’s called Hatreon, a play on the name of the popular fundraising site Patreon, and has attracted high profile clients — like white nationalists Richard Spencer and neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin. Anglin draws about $700 per month on Hatreon, while Spencer is…
Jay-Z rapped on his latest album that “Jewish people own all the property in America,” prompting a backlash and accusations of evoking age-old stereotypes about Jews and money. But Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has also been dogged by accusations of anti-Semitism for his own inflammatory remarks, stood by the rapper. Jay-Z “talked…
A prominent civil rights lawyer decried President Trump’s move to investigate and challenge affirmative action at college campuses, describing him as a white supremacist using tax dollars to “defend white rights.” “Trump is exactly the white supremacist he showed himself to be during the campaign,” Lisa Bloom, a prominent Los Angeles civil rights attorney, wrote…
A popular “alt-right” figure left the movement shortly after a June event in Portland, Oregon — after being confronted by a Jewish protester. John Turano, better known as “Based Spartan” for his Greek-inspired warrior costumes, told the Portland State University student newspaper, Vanguard, that he defected from the movement because of what he called pervasive…
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