(JTA) — A high school football coach in Ohio and seven of his staff have been suspended for punishing a Hebrew Israelite student-athlete by forcing him to eat a pepperoni pizza in violation of his religious commitment to keep a kosher diet, according to a report from Cleveland 19 News. The 17-year-old student at McKinley…
Tali Farhadian Weinstein, one of the leading candidates for Manhattan district attorney, dismissed questions Wednesday about how her past contacts with the Trump administration might complicate the office’s inquiry into the former president if she’s elected. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Farhadian Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor, was interviewed by former Trump…
JewBelong, a non-profit that reaches out to disengaged Jews, launched a campaign Wednesday to combat antisemitism called “Jewbelong or Jewbegone.” It will place nearly 800 digital ads across Manhattan and Brooklyn, each with the somewhat tongue and cheek phrase, “Here’s an idea: Let’s ask everyone who’s wondering if antisemitism is real to wear a yarmulke…
Dozens of rabbis, professors and well-known activists were among 300 progressive Jewish leaders who released a statement Wednesday pushing back against the suggestion that pro-Palestinian activism was behind the recent spate of antisemitic incidents in the United States. “Supporters of the Israeli government — including some in the American Jewish establishment — are misrepresenting fringe…
(JTA) — Benjamin Netanyahu will no longer be Israel’s prime minister, as his political opponents announced that they have formed a coalition that will replace him. Netanyahu has led Israel for the past 12 years. The new coalition, dubbed the “change bloc,” is an ideologically broad alliance that spans the Israeli political right, center and…
In one post from May 20, a Facebook user quoted Nazi mastermind Joseph Goebbels saying Jews are “masters at manipulating public opinion.” In another, from May 19, a user posted a photo of a person holding a sign saying “Hitler Was Right.” Another, from last year, spewed theories about “child-trafficking Jewish supremacists.” These are some…
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Approval numbers among American Jewish voters for President Joe Biden are 70%, an American Jewish Committee poll found, while 26% of Jewish voters disapprove of his job performance. The survey published Wednesday, the first in Biden’s presidency to measure his ratings among Jewish voters, is commensurate with past Jewish support for Democratic…
Updated 6/3 1:00 ET Google said Wednesday night it had reassigned the company’s diversity lead, whose 2007 blog post suggested Jewish people have an “insatiable appetite for war.” “These writings are unquestionably hurtful,” the company’s press office said in a statement. “The author acknowledges this and has apologized. He will no longer be part of…
(JTA) — When Eric Lander was sworn in today as the White House’s first-ever Cabinet-level science advisor, the geneticist also made Jewish history — by taking his oath of office on a 500-year-old copy of a Jewish text filled with ethical precepts. Lander chose a 1492 edition of Pirkei Avot from the Library of Congress’…
(JTA) — Sen. Cory Booker is leading a group of U.S. Jewish and Black senators in establishing a coalition to fight antisemitism and racism. The so-called Black-Jewish coalition will also include Booker’s fellow Democrats Sens. Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, as well as Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican from across…
Isaac Herzog is set to become Israel’s 11th president after winning Wednesday’s election against Miriam Peretz, in a secret ballot among the country’s 120 lawmakers. Eighty-seven lawmakers voted for Herzog, while 27 voted for Peretz. He will officially replace outgoing President Reuven Rivlin next month, with his seven-year term beginning on July 9. “I plan…
