(JTA) — The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday announced that it is suing the state of Texas over a 2017 law prohibiting government contractors from engaging in boycotts of Israel, which is says is an unwarranted violation of Americans’ right to free speech. Signed into law by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last May, the bill…
(JTA) — A speech pathologist in Austin, Texas, is suing the local public school district after she was let go for refusing to sign an agreement that she “does not” and “will not” engage in a boycott of Israel. The lawsuit filed on Monday morning in federal court in Texas calls the demand a violation…
It happens at least once every semester: a student learns that I teach courses in Jewish studies at my university here in southeast Texas and comes to visit me during my office hours. In most cases, I have never met this student before, and at first, the conversation is hesitant, as if the student lacks…
In a dusty, deserted patch of desert near the border with Mexico, inside a tent city enclosed with a giant fence, are thousands of detained children and teenagers. Just outside the locked entrance, sitting on a metal chair and holding a sign that says “FREE THEM,” is Joshua Rubin. Rubin, 67, a software developer from…
(JTA) — A crowdfunding campaign has raised more than $12,000 to help the owner of a Texas food truck that serves kosher-style food after it was vandalized in an anti-Semitic attack. Scotty Grossbard opened his Jew Hungry? food truck in Austin, Texas eight months ago. It serves traditional Jewish foods, including matzo ball soup, latkes…
(JTA) — A Jewish mother in North Texas said her child’s school asked for proof that her daughter is Jewish in order to excuse her for Yom Kippur. Lauren Gordon told local CBS affiliate CBS 11 Dallas Fort Worth on Thursday that when she asked last month for her daughter’s absence from school on Yom…
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Sen. Ted Cruz called J Street, the dovish pro-Israel policy group, “rabidly anti-Israel” in the Texas Republican’s debate with his Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke. “Congressman O’Rourke is fond of saying he doesn’t take PAC money, but the truth is different,” Cruz said Tuesday after O’Rourke accused the incumbent of accepting…
I recently witnessed mass federal immigration proceedings in Laredo, and I was deeply ashamed at how far our country has fallen from its ideals. On a recent trip organized by Rabbi Neil Blumofe of Austin’s Congregation Agudas Achim and Virginia Raymond, a congregant who represents asylees through Justice for Our Neighbors, I and other congregants…
100% of profits support our journalism
