Author: Sara Wood

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Joe Biden, reacting after the latest station in Kanye West’s dolorous journey, explained that Hitler was bad and the Holocaust was real and chided politicians like his predecessor Donald Trump who give the rapper’s antisemitism oxygen. “I just want to make a few things clear: The Holocaust happened. Hitler was a […]

(JTA) — Abe Foxman, the past Anti-Defamation League leader who long has said that nothing could separate him from support for Israel, now says the leaders of an extreme party could do the trick if they get their way in coalition talks with incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I never thought that I would reach […]

(JTA) — Two weeks after returning from a suspension over his tweets threatening Jews, Kanye West has been booted from Twitter again — this time after posting a picture of a swastika. West, the rapper and designer who now goes by Ye, tweeted the swastika shortly after wrapping a three-hour-long appearance on Infowars, the streaming […]

(JTA) — A few years ago, Adam Azari was frustrated over how little he could do to alleviate suffering in the world with his modest income as a writer and caretaker for people with disabilities. He kept thinking about a set of statistics and ideas he had encountered during his graduate studies in philosophy. For […]

(JTA) – The far-right streaming host Alex Jones tried to throw his guest Kanye West a lifeline Thursday after weeks of the rapper’s public antisemitic behavior. “You’re not Hitler. You’re not a Nazi,” Jones prodded West, who now goes by Ye, on his show “InfoWars,” a haven for right-wing conspiracy theories. But Ye, or a […]

(JTA) – Bucking weeks of public pressure from Jewish groups, celebrities and the Brooklyn Nets, Amazon will not stop selling an antisemitic documentary on its service that was promoted by NBA star Kyrie Irving. The company’s CEO Andy Jassy, who is Jewish, said Wednesday that Amazon had no plans to remove or add a disclaimer […]

(JTA) — Rhonda Moore was alarmed when she saw the ad for a student-loan refinancing company that featured what she believed was a stereotypical dishonest Jewish banker.  In the ad, for the company SoFi, a young couple is harassed by a schlubby, balding middle-aged man who dumps out the contents of the woman’s purse searching […]

(JTA) — Naftuli Moster, the founder and former executive director of Yaffed, the advocacy group focused on improving secular education in haredi Orthodox Jewish schools, is launching a news organization focused on what he sees as a news desert in the haredi world. With a board that includes seasoned Jewish journalists, Shtetl: Haredi Free Press […]

(JTA) — “Why wear a tallis to shul when you can wear a very real product from Walmart?” Ilan Kogan, an Orthodox rabbinical student, asked on TikTok late Monday. Kogan was talking about “Elegant Sunscreen Scarves Sun Block Shawl Scarf Beach Shawl Towel Clothing Accessories for Women Judaism (Blue),” the search engine-optimized title for a […]

(JTA) — A week after former President Donald Trump dined with two men who are known for their outspoken antisemitism, Republican leaders are beginning to speak out — though some are sparing Trump direct criticism. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader in the Senate, said Trump’s Nov. 20 dinner with Kanye West, the rapper […]