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.
Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan has said that the State of Israel has “no home” in the Middle East and that the Holy Land does not belong the “white Jew.” Speaking on a Tuesday broadcast of the Cliff Kelley Show on an AM radio station in Chicago, Farrakhan said that “original black man…
The militant Jewish Defense League is standing proudly with Canadian branch of Soldiers of Odin, an anti-immigrant patrol group with roots in Europe whose ranks include white nationalists. The Anti-Defamation League says that Soldiers of Odin contains “many open white supremacists, as well as other right-wing extremists.” But Meir Weinstein, the head of the Canadian…
The rapper Kendrick Lamar has long explored spiritual or religious themes in his critically-acclaimed and chart-topping work. On his fourth studio album, he surprised some by evoking beliefs associated with Hebrew Israelites. “I’m an Israelite, don’t call me black no more,” Lamar recited on his April release titled “Damn.” A voicemail from someone identified as…
The online cartoon Pepe the Frog was “killed off” by its creator, seemingly in bid to stop his image being hijacked by the “alt-right.” Over the weekend, Pepe’s creator Matt Furie posted a comic strip depicting a funeral for the frog character, attended by other characters from Furie’s Boy’s Club strip. “It’s a clear declaration…
Rabbi Michael Feshbach has been offering introductory courses to Judaism at his Reform synagogue in Chevy Chase, Maryland, for the past seven years and attracts a range of students — unaffiliated Jews, non-Jewish spouses, even groups from nearby Christian churches. The small classes might meet in the sanctuary of Temple Shalom, where the rabbi will…
Deborah Cotton, the New Orleans culture writer known as Big Red Cotton, died on May 2 of complications related to the shooting that injured her in 2013. She was 52 years old. Cotton, who had African American and Jewish roots, spoke out over the years about the need to have compassion for the men who…
Do you think that Israelis are the descendants of the biblical Israelites? It’s a simple but provocative prompt — one which the videographer and man-on-the street interviewer Corey Gil-Shuster recently put to half a dozen Israelis. Gil-Shuster, the man behind the “Ask Project,” interviewed an anti-Zionist Hasid, a woman from a West Bank settlement and…
The “alt-right” is expanding to Sweden. The white nationalist Richard Spencer is partnering with two Swedish groups to makes a new media company, BuzzFeed News reported. It will be like Breitbart — but further to the right, one organizer said. The new company has been dubbed the AltRight Corporation. Spencer will partner with Arktos Media,…
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