Good Friday morning!

It’s been an eventful few days.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to shut down schools and limit prayer services in heavily Jewish neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens due to COVID-19 sparked outrage from some Jewish elected officials and several days of protests in Borough Park that on occasion turned violent, catching Jewish Insider’s own Jacob Kornbluh in the fray. 

To all of you who reached out, we thank you. Jacob is doing OK and we remain committed to the safety and well-being of our journalists. 

The Jewish Democratic Council of America has released a new 30-second ad directed by Rob Reiner featuring both Billy Crystal and Bill Kristol endorsing Joe Biden. 

On Wednesday night, Kamala Harris and Mike Pence sat down for the only vice presidential debate of the campaign. Harris attacked the Trump administration for withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, while Pence defended the move, also lauding the targeted killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani earlier this year and the 2018 decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Qatar has reportedly submitted a formal request to the United States to purchase F-35 fighter jets, a move likely to concern both Israel and Saudi Arabia. 

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LA DISPATCH

George Gascón is the godfather of progressive prosecuting. Will LA elect him DA?

When George Gascón was a young boy in Cuba growing up under Fidel Castro’s regime, he witnessed a litany of injustices that influenced his view of authority. On one occasion, he recalled, the police swept into his neighborhood unannounced and arrested a man who lived across the street. “I remember this man being taken out in handcuffs, and he never came back,” Gascón recounted in a recent interview with Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel. “We learned several months later that he was executed.”

Formative experience: Such experiences imbued in Gascón a strong and early sense of skepticism toward law enforcement. Still, those who are familiar with Gascón’s trajectory know that he long ago overcame his aversion. The former Los Angeles cop worked his way through the system to become police chief in Mesa, Ariz., and then San Francisco, where he most recently served as district attorney, earning plaudits for his innovative prosecutorial reforms. Now that he is running for Los Angeles County district attorney, Gascón, 66, is hoping he can bring what he regards as sorely needed change to a city — and a legal system — that once treated him with suspicion.

Heated race: The policeman-turned-prosecutor brings to his campaign several policies that he says set him apart from the incumbent, Jackie Lacey, who has served as Los Angeles DA since 2012 and is the first woman, as well as the first African American, to hold the office. Gascón characterized his opponent as a prosecutor who has been tough on crime at the expense of the city’s most vulnerable. In a way, the race serves as a barometer of the national mood, as two candidates with vastly different perspectives compete to represent a city with the largest district attorney’s office, along with the biggest jail system, in the United States. 

Background: Gascón is viewed in activist circles as the godfather of the so-called progressive prosecutor movement, represented by a wave of district attorneys in major cities like Boston and Philadelphia who have made it their goal to abandon a tough-on-crime approach to law enforcement and pursue criminal justice reforms. “George Gascón has been a leader in the progressive prosecutor movement before it was a movement,” Larry Krasner, Philadelphia’s district attorney, told JI. “He safely reduced incarceration, fought for second chances for those who had grown and changed, and implemented policies that were smart — which does not always mean tough. He will do the same for Los Angeles.”

Jewish support: Gascón appears to have garnered broad support from Jewish community members in Los Angeles, home to the second-largest Jewish population in the United States. Gascón’s demonstrated commitment to fighting hate crimes resonates with Jewish Angelenos during a time in which antisemitic attacks are on the rise. In late May, Jewish residents witnessed such crimes first-hand when largely peaceful protests against police brutality devolved as rioters in the city’s historically Jewish Fairfax District looted Jewish-owned businesses and vandalized Jewish schools and synagogues with antisemitic graffiti. In interviews with JI, business owners who were targeted said they felt let down by the follow-up from city officials.

Disavowing hate: Gascón was adamant in disavowing hate crimes of any sort. “There is a clear distinction between peaceful demonstrators and those that hurt others or vandalize property,” he told JI. “For the latter, there are appropriate interventions that the district attorney can apply to ensure there is accountability. When crimes are motivated by hate, however, there is an added concern, and I have been very clear both as district attorney in San Francisco — and were I to be elected in LA — that hate-motivated crimes will be dealt with swiftly. I have no tolerance for hate-driven crimes in our community.”

Read the full feature here.

synagogue suit

Agudath Israel of America sues Cuomo over prayer limitations

On Thursday, Agudath Israel of America filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to overturn the recent executive order by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo that further limits the capacity for houses of worship in areas with rising COVID-19 rates.

Background: The executive order — No. 202.68: Continuing Temporary Suspension and Modification of Laws Relating to the Disaster Emergency — placed further capacity restrictions on non-essential gatherings in areas deemed at rising risk of the coronavirus. In areas designated as “red” — at the most severe risk — houses of worship were limited to a capacity of 10.

Argument: In filings reviewed by Jewish Insider, the plaintiffs argue the order is “facially discriminatory” and that it violates religious freedoms by applying separate limits on religious and secular gatherings. While conceding the need for some capacity restrictions, the lawsuit alleges the state failed to enforce its previous capacity restrictions, making the order an unnecessary escalation.

Last resort: In a statement, Agudath Israel board chair Shlomo Werdiger called the lawsuit “a last resort” for the organization. “We would have been able to accomplish much more for these critical public health needs had the governor’s administration worked together with us more closely beforehand,” he said. “We look forward to working with them next time. Unfortunately, the governor’s new executive order makes it impossible for us to practice our religion, and we really had no choice but to seek relief in the courts.”

Next steps: A hearing has been scheduled for this afternoon before U.S. District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto. The lawsuit specifically referenced the holiday of Simchat Torah this weekend in requesting immediate relief. Agudath Israel’s claims were echoed in a separate federal lawsuit filed on Thursday by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn in the Eastern District of New York.

book launch

Gad Saad has fashioned himself as a free speech crusader

Just call Gad Saad the anti-woke. The professor, writer, blogger and right-wing provocateur is a vocal critic of social justice activism and political correctness, which has gained him both an army of supporters and a wave of critics. And the author, whose new book, The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense, was released this week, told Jewish Insider’s Amy Spiro that he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Nook and cranny:“Sure, we’re facing a bad global pandemic now with COVID, but there’s been a much more dangerous and long-lasting global pandemic of the human mind that’s been brewing for 40-50 years,” he told Jewish Insider in a recent interview. “It started on university campuses, but now it has infiltrated every nook and cranny of society.” In The Parasitic Mind, Saad, a professor of evolutionary psychology at Concordia University in Montreal, rages against the “illiberal idea pathogens” he believes emanate from universities and academia, which have “relentlessly assaulted science, reason, logic, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, individual liberty, and individual dignity.”

Background: Saad was born into a Jewish family in Lebanon in 1964. When the Lebanese Civil War broke out in 1975, his family fled to Canada as the situation for Jews became untenable. “We were part of the last wave of remaining Jews in Lebanon,” Saad told JI. “We sort of doggedly hung in there thinking that there was a future for us in Lebanon, even though most of our extended family had already left.” But when the civil war began, he said, “it became impossible to be Jewish, to have a Jewish life in Lebanon. And so we left.”

Walking the walk:Saad is an ardent supporter of virtually unchecked free speech, writing that he will even defend the “vile and inhumane garbage” peddled by Holocaust deniers. “If you are Jewish, with my personal history in Lebanon, and you support the right for people to spew arguably the most offensive thing possible, which is to deny the Holocaust, then you really are walking the walk and talking the talk in terms of being a free speech absolutist,” Saad told JI. Short of libel, defamation, endangering others and child pornography, he said, he opposes any limits on speech. “Anything goes. The best way to fight bad ideas is not to put it under the rubric of hate speech, but rather to have the light of truth, disinfect the B.S.”

Read the full interview here.

Worthy Reads

🏗️ Building Battle:The New York Times’s Myra Noveck spotlights a controversial plan to build 5,000 units of low-income housing atop the Ein Lavan hills on the southwestern edge of Jerusalem, setting up a battle between nature conservationists and developers seeking to relieve overcrowding. [NYTimes]

🕍 Higher Calling:Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt writes in The Washington Post about the responsibility rabbis have to urge their congregants to heed COVID-19 health restrictions, even when unpopular. “At some point, we have to ask ourselves, are we mere clerks providing religious and community services — or can we rise to our higher calling?” [WashPost]

📜 Sacred Scroll:In The Wall Street Journal, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik writes about Freakonomics co-author Stephen Dubner’s decision to return to Judaism after watching the Torah — celebrated this weekend on Simchat Torah — emerge from the ark. “When all else fails, it is the Torah that sustains us. We know that now more than ever.” [WSJ]

💸 On the Money:The New York Times’s Emily Flitter profiles Bloomberg finance columnist Matt Levine, the author of the Money Stuff newsletter and “a former Goldman Sachs banker whose deadpan style mixes technical elucidation and wit.” [NYTimes]

Around the Web

🛑 Not So Fast:Hezbollah declared yesterday that negotiations with Israel over its maritime border with Lebanon are not indicative of any peace talks. 

🤝 Meeting of the Minds:Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan met in Berlin this week for talks. 

✈️ Open Skies:Israel has signed a deal with Jordan that will allow flights to cross over between the nations, shortening many international journeys.  

☮️ Small Steps:The Israeli Knesset is slated to vote to ratify the peace accord with the UAE on Monday. Meanwhile, the stock exchanges of both nations have started talks on cooperation. 

🏦 Cracking Down: The White House imposed new sanctions yesterday on 18 Iranian banks despite pushback from European governments. 

💰 Caution Ahead: E.U. officials have reportedly warned Palestinian Authority leaders that they will cut off financial aid if the PA continues to refuse tax revenues collected by Israel.  

🏥 On the Mend: Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has tested positive for COVID-19, but is reportedly not experiencing symptoms.

💇‍♀️ Snip Snafu: Sara Netanyahu is in hot water over charges that she had a private haircut in her home, violating COVID-19 lockdown rules. 

🙅‍♂️ Bad Business: Elliot Broidy, a prominent Republican donor, has been charged with illegally lobbying the Trump administration on behalf of a foreign government. 

📝 For the Record:Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) clarified to the Republican Jewish Coalition that while he voted against the anti-QAnon resolution, he does not support the conspiracy theory. 

😬 RIP: StoneMor, one of the country’s largest cemetery owners, distributed thousands of 2020 calendars with a quote from SS commander Heinrich Himmler. The company claimed the mistake was made by an outside vendor.

🕍 Hate Continues: A New York City man was charged with a hate crime for shattering the windows and damaging the sanctuary of the Shore Parkway Jewish Center in Brooklyn earlier this week.

🏆 Top Prize:American Jewish poet Louise Glück — a Pulitzer Prize winner and the former U.S. poet laureate — won the Nobel Prize for Literature for her body of work. 

🧑‍🏫 Back to School: A Florida principal who was fired after refusing to state that the Holocaust was a historical fact has been reinstated and awarded back pay. 

🗞️ Transition: Journalist Peter Beinart, editor-at-large of Jewish Currents, has moved from The Atlantic to The New York Times as a contributing opinion writer. 

📚 Book Shelf: The New York TimesreviewsThe Blessing And The Curse: The Jewish People And Their Books In The Twentieth Century by author Adam Kirsch.

🎥 Hollywood: Israeli actress Niv Sultan, the star of “Tehran,” has signed on with talent agency WME.

📣 Speaking Out: Actor Sacha Baron Cohen penned an op-ed about the dangers of conspiracy theories and widespread misinformation, referencing the ancient blood libel against Jews.

🕯️ Remembering: Prominent Turkish Jewish businessman Jak Kamhi died at age 95. Eitan Haber, a veteran Israeli journalist and advisor to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin — who announced his assassination — died at age 80. Musicologist and author Maynard Solomon died at age 90. Author Bette Greene, who wrote the young adult novel Summer of My German Soldier, died at 86. Hollywood executive William Bernstein died at age 87.

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