Category: Other

(JTA) — The State Department on Friday announced sanctions against Ben Zion “Bentzi” Gopstein, a prominent far-right Israeli activist, for his “destabilizing” activities in the West Bank, along with two Israeli organizations that raised funds for sanctioned settlers. The penalties were the third round of sanctions the State Department has levied against far-right Israelis in…

(New York Jewish Week) – With a phalanx of police outside its gates and student protesters crowding the street, Columbia University erupted in unrest Thursday over the Israel-Hamas war.  The mass demonstration at New York City’s Ivy League school and its aftermath represented an escalation after months of tensions over the war. On Wednesday morning,…

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Police arrested the son of a prominent Washington D.C.-area rabbi after he allegedly got into an altercation with protesters outside the Israeli Embassy. Two witnesses quoted in a Secret Service police arrest sheet accused Ezra Weinblatt, a real estate agent and the son of Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, who leads Congregation B’nai Tzedek…

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Voting along party lines, the U.S. Senate buried impeachment proceedings targeting the Jewish Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas. All 51 senators caucusing with Democrats voted on Wednesday to adjourn the impeachment before proceedings started. All 49 Republicans voted against adjourning, with one voting present on one count of impeachment. The vote brings…

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The number of FBI investigations into anti-Jewish hate crimes tripled in the months after Oct. 7, FBI director Christopher Wray told Jewish leaders on a call Wednesday. Wray also warned that, amid the Israel-Iran conflict, Iranian proxies could attack targets on American soil. “For just a few days after the Oct. 7…

(JTA) — The hearing in Congress on Dec. 5 could hardly have been more consequential: Two of the three Ivy League university presidents who testified about antisemitism on their campuses soon resigned, while their leading interrogator, Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, morphed into an unlikely hero for American Jews, including many who tend to lean liberal.…

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Biden administration does not want tensions between Iran and Israel to “escalate” after Iran’s massive attack on Israel over the weekend, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told American Jewish leaders. Blinken called the meeting at the State Department on Tuesday morning as Israel contemplates how and when to retaliate against…

WASHINGTON (JTA) —  Republicans and Democrats in Congress are uniting to pass a bill that would create a national coordinator of antisemitism — though it faces competition from another Republican-backed bill that seeks to define antisemitism.  The bipartisan Countering Antisemitism Act, introduced last week, is meant to advance President Joe Biden’s national strategy to fight…

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Unqualified public expressions of support for Israel from President Joe Biden. The United States and other nations scrambling to protect Israel from rockets. Congress accelerating defense assistance to Israel. When Iran attacked Israel on Saturday, it pulled Israel out of the isolation it was sinking into due to its war with Hamas.…

(JTA) — On Saturday night, Iran fired more than 200 missiles and drones at Israel.  The unprecedented attack — from Iranian soil to Israeli territory — is the most direct confrontation ever between the two longtime adversaries. It threatens to spiral into a broader regional war whose consequences could also likewise be without precedent.  In…