Author: Sara Wood

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A Jewish nominee withdrew her bid for a top State Department human rights post after a key Republican senator refused to change his mind about what he said were her unacceptable past comments on Israel. “At present, I don’t see a path forward for confirmation, and after one and a half years, […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Rep. Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat, is the latest Jewish pro-Israel stalwart to express alarm at proposals advanced by the new Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Nadler, the longest-serving Jewish lawmaker in Congress, singled out proposed judicial reforms for criticism, particularly one that would allow the Knesset to […]

(JTA) — The white supremacist and far-right provocateur Nick Fuentes was reinstated to Twitter Tuesday and returned to the social media platform with a volley of antisemitic posts and comments, including praise for Hitler. Fuentes is a Holocaust denier who first gained prominence after participating in the white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Judging by her response to a question at a press briefing on Tuesday, Jackie Rosen had likely read the headlines involving Israel she had made over the past week. She was prepared to deflect. Had she really nixed meetings with two government ministers in Israel’s extremist Religious Zionist bloc, as Axios had […]

(JTA) — Mordechi Rosenfeld, the Jewish comedian, insists that the recent Variety article in which he reveals he is married to a man is not a “coming out” piece. “This article is showing that I’m a veteran comedian and I’m married to a man,” said Rosenfeld, who is known to his friends and fans by […]

(JTA) — Last summer, in the days after the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that protected the right to an abortion, Paula Eiselt was doing press work for her acclaimed documentary “Aftershock.” The film — which documents how the American healthcare system disproportionately fails to keep women of color […]

(Houston Jewish Herald Voice and JTA) — A Houston synagogue is shoring up its security practices after a woman who said she was motivated to vandalize it by Messianic beliefs entered without being detected. Ezra Law broke into Congregation Emanu El in the early hours of Jan. 14, causing damage to both the building and […]

(Cleveland Jewish News and JTA) – Two Cleveland-area Jewish men flying a single-engine plane were killed Thursday when their plane crashed in White Plains, New York, shortly after takeoff. Binyamin (Ben) Chafetz of Beachwood and Boruch Taub of Cleveland Heights, two heavily Orthodox suburbs of Cleveland, were killed when the plane being piloted by Taub […]

(JTA) — Five rabbis from multiple Jewish denominations are among more than a dozen Missouri faith leaders challenging the state’s ban on abortion. In a lawsuit filed Thursday in St. Louis Circuit Court, the faith leaders charge that lawmakers acted according to their personal religious beliefs and violated the separation of church and state protected […]

(JTA) – A newly hired dean of students for a Michigan middle school resigned after only nine school days on the job after receiving an anonymous antisemitic death threat. The threat sent the district into lockdown and contributed to the decision to cancel classes during the first week of the year. Michael Woodberg was hired […]