PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
California lawmakers are condemning news that a Jewish resident of Oakland, Calif., and his 5-year-old son were harassed and forcibly removed from a local cafe by its anti-Israel owner for wearing a hat that brandished a Star of David.
Video of the incident, which began circulating online on Tuesday, shows Abdulrahim Harara, the owner of Jerusalem Coffee House in North Oakland, speaking to Jonathan Hirsch and his son over the former’s hat, which has a Jewish star emblazoned on the front. Harara said that Hirsch’s cap was “a violent hat, and you need to leave,” as Hirsch’s 5-year-old son began crying.
Ricardo Rubio/Europa Press via Getty Images
The latest chapter in the emerging story of the literary world’s boycott of Israeli cultural institutions took a new twist this week with high-profile Jewish writers like Bernard Henri-Lévy, Howard Jacobson and David Mamet punching back.
They and more than 1,000 other authors, musicians and actors signed a sharply worded counterpetition, launched by the Creative Community For Peace on Tuesday, that argues “the instincts and motivations behind cultural boycotts, in practice and throughout history, are directly in opposition to the liberal values most writers hold sacred.” It goes on: “The exclusion of anyone who doesn’t unilaterally condemn Israel is an inversion of morality and an obfuscation of reality.” The signatories include notable writers such as Simon Schama, Lee Child and Simon Sebag Montefiore, along with Julianna Margulies, Mayim Bialik, Ozzie Osbourne and The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik.
(Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
A bipartisan group of senators wrote to Secretary of State Tony Blinken on Thursday pressing him to redesignate the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Their letter suggests growing frustration on Capitol Hill over the administration’s refusal to take the step after a year of Houthi attacks on U.S. forces, Israel and commercial shipping lanes.
The administration has faced bipartisan pressure from lawmakers to reinstate the Houthis’ FTO designation since as early as January, when the administration imposed a separate Specially Designated Global Terrorist designation which confers less stringent sanctions authorities.
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Peter Deutsch, a former Democratic congressman from South Florida, was once seen as an outspoken party loyalist who rose to national prominence as a fierce defender of former Vice President Al Gore amid the contentious recount of 2000 centered in his home district.
On Jan. 6, 2001, Deutsch even sought to challenge the certification of the Electoral College vote during a joint session of Congress — an effort rejected by Gore himself. Deutsch, an Orthodox Jew, also later served as a campaign surrogate for Barack Obama in the 2008 election — amid scrutiny from Jewish voters over the former president’s approach to the Middle East.
Courtesy House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA)
A politically powerful Hasidic voting bloc in New York’s Hudson Valley is set to endorse Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), according to two people familiar with the matter, lending a last-minute boost to his campaign in the final stretch of a closely contested race.
The Hasidic village of New Square, home to some 3,000 votes that typically back candidates as a bloc, will throw its support behind Lawler, a vulnerable freshman Republican who is seeking a second term in his race against former Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY), sources informed of the matter confirmed to Jewish Insider on Thursday.
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Rev. Mitchell Johnson, the newly appointed Chicago Board of Education president under fire for antisemitic, misogynistic and conspiratorial social media posts, has resigned from the position, the Chicago Sun-Times reported on Thursday.
His decision to leave the post came at the request of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who said in a statement that Rev. Johnson’s posts “were not only hurtful but deeply disturbing. I want to be clear: antisemitic, misogynistic, and conspiratorial statements are unacceptable.”
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday called for Rev. Mitchell Johnson to resign from his position as Chicago Board of Education president, saying Rev. Johnson has “failed to live up to” the values of “kindness and inclusivity” that an education leader needs to exhibit.
“Any person charged with the stewardship of the Chicago Public School Board must exemplify focused, inclusive and steady leadership. The views expressed in the current Chair’s posts — antisemitism, misogyny, fringe conspiracy theories — very clearly do not meet that standard,” Pritzker said in a statement shared with NBC5 Chicago. “I believe it is in the best interest of our schools and our children for the Chair to resign.”
Alex Kent/Getty Images
Two days after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, Harvard administrators had drafted a statement condemning the terror group and expressing condolences for those taken hostage. Those key elements of the statement were softened or removed.
At Columbia, the current and past board chairs said in private messages that they hoped that Democrats would win back the House of Representatives to avoid continued investigations.
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