Steve Irwin

Last summer, a couple of months before announcing that he would run for Congress, Steve Irwin, an attorney and longtime Democratic activist in Pittsburgh, was traveling through rural Pennsylvania as he considered a separate bid for lieutenant governor. “What I saw,” he said in a recent interview with Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel, “was really unsettling.” The many Confederate flags that he had encountered were enough to make him “sick,” but equally if not more disturbing to Irwin, who is Jewish, was the sight of what he described as “Nazi memorabilia” at the county fairs he had visited during his peregrinations across the state. “It’s there,” he cautioned. “But I know what it’s like to feel like being the other.”

Formative experiences: Beginning at the age of 10, Irwin says he was subject to overt and occasionally violent acts of antisemitic prejudice when he suddenly found himself among one of the only Jewish students in class after his family moved from Queens to the decidedly unfamilair new territory of St. Petersburg, Fla. “I was very much in the minority,” Irwin recalled, and soon enough, “word got out” that he was different. “People literally thought we had horns, I mean literally thought we had horns,” he said. “I was really ridiculed. I was proselytized to every day at lunch. I was beaten up. Our house was egged.”

Remembering Tree of Life: Such memories are fresh in Irwin’s mind as he mounts his first bid for public office in Pennsylvania’s newly drawn 12th Congressional District, where four years ago, a lone gunman carried out the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history, killing 11 people and wounding six at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh. “We all are suffering from post-traumatic stress from that event,” said Irwin, a former congregant at Tree of Life who says he knew half of those who were murdered. “It’s something that we continue to be experiencing, the whole tragedy,” he added. “We’re in the middle of it still. The trial hasn’t occurred.”

Frontrunner: Since he launched his campaign last November, Irwin — who shares a name but no relation with the late Australian crocodile hunter — has carved out a lane for himself as the leading establishment candidate in the May 17 primary. He recently notched a major endorsement from outgoing Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA), who said in a statement that Irwin would “work with” President Joe Biden “to pass an agenda that helps working people” and that he would “deliver results.”

Squaring off: Irwin’s chief rival, Summer Lee, is a rising star in local progressive politics now finishing her second term as a state legislator. The 34-year-old Democratic Socialist — who, if elected, would become Pennsylvania’s first Black congresswoman — has consolidated support from the activist left at the state and national levels. Her coalition includes such like-minded progressives as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) as well as organized labor groups and the Sunrise Movement. The other Democratic candidates in the race include Jerry Dickinson, a constitutional law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, and Jeff Woodard, the executive director of Pennsylvania College Access Program.

Endorsements alert: In recent months, the primary has drawn interest from national pro-Israel groups such as Pro-Israel America, a grassroots advocacy group, and Democratic Majority for Israel, both of which have endorsed Irwin. In a statement to JI, Rachel Rosen, a spokesperson for DMFI’s political arm, expressed concern over Lee’s endorsement from Justice Democrats while also suggesting that both Lee and Dickinson “have a history of making disparaging remarks about the U.S.-Israel relationship.”

Read the full story here.

In the other corner: In a statement to JI, Annie Weinberg, Lee’s campaign manager, said, “State Rep Lee has always supported Israel’s right to exist, and her opponent should point to any statements she has made that indicate otherwise. She has never been a part of the BDS movement, but opposes the criminalization of free speech. She believes that the US should hold all its closest allies accountable to international law and human rights standards, which means that taxpayer-funded military aid to Israel should have conditions ensuring the prevention of further illegal annexation of Palestinian land, expansion of settlements, Palestinian home demolitions and the detention of Palestinian children.” Lee is expected to address such issues directly during a virtual conversation with the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh on Monday night.

Princeton University

Amid an uptick in antisemitism nationwide, Princeton University students are set to vote next week on an undergraduate-wide referendum aligned with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

Textual analysis: The proposed referendum, which will appear on the student ballot alongside elections for student government officers, calls on university administrators to stop using Caterpillar Inc. construction equipment on campus “given the violent role that Caterpillar machinery has played in the mass demolition of Palestinian homes, the murder of Palestinians and other innocent people, and the promotion of the prison-industrial complex.”

Student concerns: Some Jewish students at Princeton are concerned that campaigning related to the referendum could lead to an increase in antisemitism on campus, according to an Instagram account run by opponents of the referendum. Last month, the Princeton Committee on Palestine — the group that wrote the text of the referendum — protested outside the campus Hillel, the Center for Jewish Life. “The referendum lobbying creates an atmosphere on campus where it is acceptable to demonize an integral component of the identity of most Jewish students on campus,” said Rabbi Eitan Webb, the Chabad rabbi on campus.

Ivy issue: If the referendum passes, Princeton would become the third Ivy League university student body to approve an anti-Israel referendum. Brown University students approved a broad divestment referendum in 2019, and Columbia University students approved one in 2020. The presidents of both Brown and Columbia released statements saying the schools would not divest from any companies related to the measure given the lack of student consensus on the issue. Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber made a similar argument in 2015 when students defeated an anti-Israel referendum that called on the university to divest from companies that are “complicit in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and blockade of the Gaza Strip.”

Elsewhere: Princeton’s referendum comes amid a busy spring of anti-Israel activity on American college campuses, including at Ohio State University and Loyola University Chicago. “The BDS onslaught on campus has continued unabated this academic year with no signs of letting up anytime soon,” said Jacob Baime, CEO of the Israel on Campus Coalition.

Read more here.

Elana Broitman

Elana Broitman, The Jewish Federations of North America’s chief lobbyist in Washington, has spent recent weeks lobbying for more aid for Ukraine, expediting processing for visa holders and pushing for other ways to help Ukrainian refugees enter and remain in the United States. But for Broitman, JFNA’s agenda isn’t just a job. It’s an outgrowth of her experience fleeing Ukraine as a child, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Coming to America: Broitman came to the U.S. from Odesa, Ukraine, in the mid-1970s when she was 9, “thanks to the lobbying of the Jewish community,” and with the assistance of HIAS, the Jewish refugee resettlement agency, she told Jewish Insider in a recent interview. The family arrived in the U.S. with few belongings — books, a set of silverware, and one piece of luggage each. Soviet border guards even ripped open her 4-year-old sister’s teddy bear to check for valuables. In the U.S., her family settled first in Hazleton, a small town in Pennsylvania, before relocating to Texas.

First steps: “The JCC, one of the local synagogues, really welcomed us. They embraced us and helped my parents find jobs,” she said. “And the Jewish community in this little town called Hazleton was just incredible, really embraced us… the Jewish community sent my sister and me to Jewish summer camp, nothing we could have afforded.”

Flashbacks: Broitman said it has been “heart-wrenching” to watch the images coming out of Ukraine, observing that the refugees “look just like my parents or grandparents” and “live in buildings that look just like the ones I grew up in.” She added, “It’s so reminiscent of stories I heard from my grandparents when we were fleeing, for example, Odesa, which ended up being occupied.”

Culmination: Broitman is now leading JFNA’s lobbying on issues including aid for Ukraine, expediting processing for visa holders, the renewal of the Lautenberg Amendment — which allows Ukrainian religious minorities, including Jews, to be reunited with family members in the U.S., and Temporary Protected Status — which allows Ukrainians already in the U.S. to remain here. “It is incredibly heartwarming and I feel like my life has led here,” she said. “The Lautenberg Amendment is born out of the Jewish experience, was put there by a Jewish senator — to now be able to bring it full circle to help the people who need to get our right away, is incredibly gratifying.”

Read the full story here.

Minister of Regional Cooperation Issawi Frej

As Israel grapples with a surge of terror attacks, one of the government’s more left-leaning ministers told Jewish Insider’s Ruth Marks Eglash last week that the way to combat extremist violence is to bring the Palestinians into the wave of regional normalization deals sparked by the Abraham Accords. Issawi Frej, an Israeli Arab and member of the Meretz party who currently serves as minister of regional cooperation in what is considered politically the broadest coalition government in the country’s history, said that a way must be found to include the Palestinians in the process, which began in September 2020 with Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signing the Accords. Morocco and Sudan inked their own agreements in the following months.

Incomplete picture: “The Middle East is like a picture, with Israel and other countries, the Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco and Jordanian in the frame, but the picture is not complete without the Palestinians,” said Frej, who was in West Palm Beach, Fla., last week to attend the Jewish Funders Network Conference. His comments came as foreign ministers from five regional countries and the U.S. held a first-of-its-kind summit in Israel’s Negev desert exploring ways to increase cooperation and boost stability in the Middle East.

United against extremism: “When these people attack, they don’t only attack Jews, they attack all human beings, they attack you and me and everyone who is looking for hope and for peace,” Frej told JI. “We must not let these extreme people take us to a dark place.” He said forums such as the Negev Summit were the best response to extremism, and though the recent attacks were not said to be coordinated, they almost certainly appear to be a reaction to efforts by a growing number of countries to widen the circle of peace in the region. “I believe that all together, Arabs and Jews, and all the citizens and states in the region, must be united together and fight back against this extremism,” stated Frej. “All countries must come together to fight these extreme people; we are all on the same mission.”

Living together: Frej, whose ministry is responsible for initiating collaborative regional-wide cultural, economic and environmental projects, among others, also proposed a greater focus on education — a complete overhaul of what is being taught to the next generation and not just putting on a Band-Aid each time there is violence. “The Jews are here to stay, the Muslims are here to stay, the Christians are here to stay, and we need to find a way to live together – there is no other solution,” he said.

Read the full interview here.