(JTA) — Austin, Texas, is known for several things: authentic barbecue, hot weather, cowboys — and, increasingly each year, the ever-growing South by Southwest festival. What began as an indie music event in the late 1980s has swelled to include multiple conferences on film and technology. Last year, over 70,000 people registered to attend the nine-day…
(JTA) — Students at the University of Illinois and Ohio State University voted down measures urging their schools to divest from companies complicit in Palestinian human rights violations. The Illinois referendum was rejected late last week by a margin of 56.8 to 43.2 percent, according to media reports. The Ohio State measure failed by a…
(JTA) — Seventy percent of American voters see anti-Semitism in the country as a “very” or “somewhat serious” problem, up from 49 percent a month ago, according to a new poll. The responses differed by party identification, with an overwhelming majority of Democrats, 87 percent, seeing anti-Semitism as a “very” or “somewhat serious” problem, and…
It took a full seven weeks, but President Trump finally spoke to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas by phone Friday afternoon. Trump, according to a Palestinian spokesman, invited Abbas to meet with him at the White House in the near future, although the date is yet to be set. The spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdainah, said Trump…
Right-wing preacher Lance Wallnau is calling on his followers to engage in a Purim fast for President Trump this Purim — against the, media, progressives and the “sabotaging, sniping and snarling” forces that Wallnau sees as aligned against the president. Like Esther, the heroine of the Purim tale, Wallnau hopes that Trump can turn the…
(JTA) — The Association for Israel Studies harshly criticized Israel’s new ban on entry to supporters of boycotts, calling the law anti-democratic and warning that it would prevent academic exchange with the Jewish state. The association, a professional grouping of academics who focus on Israel, said in a statement Friday that the law could turn…
What does the “alt-right” really want? Last month the white nationalist Counter-Currents editor John Morgan laid out the movement’s principles at a talk in Stolkholm. A slick infographic of nine core demands of the “alt-right” was later posted online. At first glance, the demands and language appear surprisingly tame. So Mark Pitcavage, a researcher for…
(JTA) — South Carolina’s House of Representatives passed a bill endorsing the U.S. State Department’s definition of anti-Semitism as part of an effort to fight discrimination on college campuses. The bill, which passed, which considers demonizing, delegitimizing or applying a double standard to Israel to be forms of anti-Semitism. Under the South Carolina bill, the new…
(JTA) — Leaders of the U.S. Reform movement met with Palestinian Authority President President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. The delegation of around 30 leaders from the Union for Reform Judaism, led by its president, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, met with Abbas and other Palestinian officials Thursday afternoon. Discussions during the meeting, which represented the first time…
With the “Unofficial Hogwarts Haggadah” coming out any day now, here are some highlights: Harry embarks on his own personal journey of exodus every year. He leaves the Dursley’s to return to Hogwarts, his promised land. The miracle of the splitting of the sea is certainly matched by the wonder of platform 9 and three-quarters….
A Jewish-raised Hindu named Ben Lee is protesting Donald Trump’s travel ban — with a new album of songs for children. It’s titled, plainly, “Ben Lee Sings Songs About Islam for the Whole Family.” Lee, an Australian musician living in Los Angeles, told the Guardian that he is wanted to spread information about Islam at…
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