December 05, 2022
By RUTHIE BLUM
(JNS.org) – Mere hours after the announcement on Tuesday that the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Israeli and Palestinian affairs had been promoted to a position that was tailor-made just for him, the American Jewish Committee jumped in to welcome the move.
“Congratulations to our friend @HadyAmr on being appointed Special Representative for Palestinian Affairs,” tweeted the self-described “staunchly non-partisan” organization. “AJC looks forward to our continued...
November 30, 2022
By HEN MAZZIG
(Jewish Journal via JNS.org) – Twenty years ago, the phrase “Never Again” still meant something, at least in the United States. Yet awareness of the Holocaust and the six million European Jews murdered—the culmination of 2,000 years of brutality towards the stateless Jewish people—has fallen among the youngest generations of Americans.
A 2018 survey by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany found that 31% of...
November 27, 2022
By ERIC LEVINE
(JNS.org) – Much is being made of Donald Trump’s recent dinner at Mar-a-Lago with celebrity antisemite Kanye West (now known as “Ye”) and Ye’s friend Nick Fuentes, who is an outspoken white supremacist, Holocaust denier and neo-Nazi.
Much of the commentary on this incident, however, is wrong. It is too easy and glib to say that it proves Trump is unfit for office because he is...
November 25, 2022
By RABBI ARTHUR WASKOW
Just five minutes before noon on Thanksgiving, I will take part in a wonderful ritual – again and again, many times again. One of the members of a men’s group that began 30 years ago, Jeffrey Dekro, founder of the Isaiah Fund and now teacher of Zohar — will call me and the other men’s group members to remind us to turn on our radios. He...
November 20, 2022
By ERIK ARNOLD
(JNS.org) – This past February marked 80 years since the suicide in Brazil of the Austrian-Jewish writer Stefan Zweig. The fate of this outstanding literary figure, who in his cosmopolitan pursuits epitomized Nietzsche’s concept of the “good European,” is a reflection not only of troubled times past but also our tumultuous present. Indeed, the parallels between the interwar period and the contemporary era are quite striking,...
November 14, 2022
By JONATHAN S. TOBIN
(JNS.org) – You have to live in a bubble of New York Times readers and NPR listeners to think that what happens on “Saturday Night Live” is of earth-shattering importance. But the controversy about what guest host comedian Dave Chappelle said about recent antisemitic controversies involving African-Americans during the course of his opening monologue on the latest edition of the show is significant.
Chappelle’s willingness to rationalize, if not excuse,...
November 08, 2022
By RABBI URI PILICHOWSKI
(JNS.org) – At one time or another, we’ve all heard a Jewish comedian tell an anti-Semitic joke—and we cringe. While such jokes are often funny, they also perpetuate anti-Semitic stereotypes we would be better off without. They can be funny in a comedy club, but inevitably become dangerous when they are adopted by genuine anti-Semites.
This illustrates an interesting and perhaps puzzling double standard: The...
November 01, 2022
By ALAN SMASON
The last several weeks have been all about Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, and his diatribe about going “def con 3 on Jewish people.” Ye, who has gone off on diatribes before had not specifically pronounced such blatant antisemitic vitriol before.
When pressed for additional comment, his response on a podcast was to alert the media that he was untouchable. “I can literally say...
October 28, 2022
By JONATHAN S. TOBIN
(JNS.org) – Those who monitor media coverage have long struggled with the key question at the heart of their endeavor. Faced with slanted news stories—such as the many on Israel in the mainstream media—it is easier to point out mistakes, distortions and lack of context than it is to prove why this is happening.
Americans paying attention this week were provided with an explanation for...
October 21, 2022
By MELANIE PHILLIPS
(JNS.org) – Those trying to defend the Jewish people from the tsunami of Jew-hatred swamping the West often face an implacable refusal to acknowledge that anti-Israel or anti-Zionist attitudes are the modern iteration of antisemitism.
It’s claimed instead that Israel’s defenders are trying to silence criticism of what Israel does, just like any other country would be criticized.
But Israel isn’t criticized like any other country. It...
