Anti-Semitic Flyers Posted On Indianapolis Jewish Institutions

September 16, 2019 By Marcy Oster

(JTA) — Flyers described as “anti-Semitic in nature” were posted on several Jewish institutions in Indianapolis.

The flyers were discovered on Friday morning, according to local reports.

The Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council said in a statement that the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department was notified of the incident and that it had opened an investigation. The police are classifying it as a “bias crime,” according to the statement.

The Jewish institutions opened as usual and police provided additional patrols, according to the statement.

“The Jewish community in Indianapolis has well-established and open lines of communication with the Office of Homeland Security, IMPD, and the Marion County Sheriff. Organizations remain vigilant and responsibe to all incidents regardless of severity,” the statement also said.

The statement and news report did not specify what about the flyers was anti-Semitic.

The JCRC said that it has “noted an increase in anti-Semitism in the greater Indianapolis area.”

In August, a swastika was drawn on the wall of a dorm room at the University of Indianapolis shared by twin Israeli sisters.

American Diplomats Pressured German, Irish Politicians To Oppose BDS

September 16, 2019 By Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON (JTA) — U.S. diplomats in Dublin and Berlin pressed lawmakers and officials in Ireland and Germany to oppose bids to boycott Israel or the Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

A State Department report delivered last week to Congress and obtained Monday by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency lists actions taken by U.S. diplomats to oppose the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel in compliance with a 2015 law mandating such periodic reports.

According to the report, the diplomats engaged senior government officials and party leaders in Ireland “strongly urging them to drop their support” for a bill that would target for penalties the importing of goods from settlements in the West Bank.

The bill passed a reading in January but has not fully completed the legislative process. The State Department document says it is not clear if the measure will advance. Ireland’s foreign minister and deputy prime minister, Simon Coveney, opposes the bill, the report says, as he fears it would limit Irish influence in the region.

In Germany, the report notes that a court last year dismissed a lawsuit filed by an Israeli against Kuwait Airlines because it would not allow the passenger to board a flight. Following the ruling, the report says, “Embassy Berlin engaged senior officials,” adding that the embassy routinely “conducts outreach” to German officials, as well as federal and state lawmakers, with respect to Israel and Jewish life.

Subsequently, the parliament approved a resolution designating BDS as anti-Semitic.

Suspect In Shooting Of Old Man Outside Miami Synagogue Charged With Hate Crime

September 16, 2019 By Marcy Oster

(JTA) — A man arrested last month in the shooting of an elderly man outside a synagogue in Miami, Florida, was charged with a hate crime.

Carlints St. Louis, 30, was arraigned last week in criminal court in Miami on charges that include one count of attempted first-degree murder with a deadly weapon with prejudice; one count of discharging a firearm in a vehicle; and one count of battery of aggravated battery of a person 65 years of age or older.

In late July, Yosef Lifshutz, 68, was shot six times in the leg as he stood outside the Young Israel of Greater Miami waiting for daily prayers to begin. Lifshutz, also known as Warren, required surgery.

St. Louis was taken into custody by Miami-Dade Police on Aug. 21, a day after he filled out a report with a nearby police department claiming that a firearm had been stolen from his black Chevy Impala — the car police were seeking in the synagogue shooting.

He was ordered held in jail without bond. A trial date has been set for Dec. 2, the NBC Miami affiliate reported.

Sarsour, Other Leaders Accused Of Anti-Semitism Leave Women’s March

September 16, 2019 By Alyssa Fisher

The Women’s March is moving on from three of its original four co-chairs, whose struggles to respond to anti-Semitism accusations undercut the movement they led, The Washington Post reported Monday.

Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour will no longer sit on the board of the Women’s March. They stepped down July 15, but the organization had kept their bios and titles on their website until this week, the Post reported.

The controversies hurt relationships with the Jewish community and confused the organization’s mission. There had been calls for these leaders to resign since it emerged in March 2018 that Mallory, Sarsour and co-chair Carmen Perez had longtime associations with the anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

Perez, who will remains as co-chair, repeatedly met with Farrakhan and praised him online before she took up leadership of the Women’s March in 2017, Algemeiner reported that year.

In a statement, the organization said that Sarsour, Bland and Mallory would “transition off of the Women’s March Board and onto other projects focused on advocacy within their respective organizations.” Bland and Mallory, who were co-presidents, will be replaced when the new board meets this month. New leadership will also be elected.

Bland said that the three planned this move long ago. Sarsour told The Post in a text message that the new board is “AMAZING.”

“I am grateful to the women who stepped up to shepherd the Women’s March,” she wrote. “This is what women supporting women looks like.”

The new board members were selected by a nominating committee, and include three Jewish women: Rabbi Tamara Cohen of Moving Traditions, an educational program for Jewish teenagers; Ginna Green, chief strategy officer of the liberal Jewish political advocacy group Bend the Arc, which advised the Women’s March on anti-Semitism during the peak of the controversy; and Texas political strategist Ginny Goldman.

Alyssa Fisher is a writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

Sackler Family-Owned Purdue Pharma Files For Bankruptcy

September 16, 2019 By Marcy Oster

(JTA) — The Sackler family-owned Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy as part of a tentative $12 billion settlement with dozens of state and local governments that filed lawsuits accusing the company of fueling and profiting from the opioid epidemic.

The company’s board met Sunday evening to approve the move, Reuters reported, and the bankruptcy was filed in White Plains, New York.

Twenty-four states and five U.S. territories, as well as 2,000 cities, counties and other plaintiffs, have sued the Connecticut-based company. Two dozen other states have not committed to the settlement and are being encouraged to do so, according to Reuters.

The prescription painkiller OxyContin, introduced by Purdue in 1996, helped make the Sacklers America’s 19th richest family with a combined net worth of $13 billion, according to Forbes. The company has been accused of aggressively marketing the powerful and addictive painkiller even as it became clear that the drugs were not as safe as advertised.

The bankruptcy filing will turn the private company into a “public beneficiary trust,” allowing the profits from all drug sales, including OxyContin, to go to the plaintiffs in the lawsuits.

The company also would agree to give its addiction treatment drugs free to the public. Those drugs are currently under development.

The Sacklers, who are Jewish, would cede control of Purdue in the proposed settlement. They have offered $3 billion in cash and at least another $1.5 billion from the proposed sale of another company they own, called Mundipharma, Reuters reported, citing the company.

“It is our hope the bankruptcy reorganization process that is now underway will end our ownership of Purdue and ensure its assets are dedicated for the public benefit,” the family said in a statement.

The reorganization and settlement will require approval by a U.S. bankruptcy judge.

The Sackler family has supported Tel Aviv University’s School of Medicine and the Jewish Museum in Berlin among its philanthropic endeavors.

Recommend this article

Thank you!