Author: Sara Wood

(JTA) – Chicago Jews were alarmed Thursday as local news outlets reported that a bus full of Jewish schoolchildren had been the victim of antisemitic harassment.  Police were investigating after a group of adults had forced the bus to stop, made their way on board, and then delivered a “Heil Hitler” salute, according to the […]

(JTA) — The NBA’s Jewish commissioner says he does not believe Kyrie Irving, the Brooklyn Nets star currently suspended amid an antisemitism scandal, is himself antisemitic. Irving ignited controversy last month when he shared a link to an antisemitic movie on Twitter. The link, which he did not elaborate upon, promoted a film called “Hebrew […]

(JTA) — Federal prosecutors have arrested and charged a New Jersey teenager with extremist Islamist views with making the threat that led to a sweeping FBI warning for the state’s synagogues last week. Omar Alkattoul, 18, of Sayreville, New Jersey, is charged with one count of transmitting a threat in interstate and foreign commerce for […]

(JTA) — A poll of Jewish voters showed them overwhelmingly listing abortion rights and risks to democracy as their top issues when they voted in midterm elections. The poll commissioned by J Street and another exit poll conducted on behalf of Fox News Channel and the Associated Press also showed substantial majorities of Jews voting […]

(JTA) — There’s a good chance that right now, Nathan Steuer is playing, or thinking about playing, Magic: The Gathering. The trading card game, which Steuer used to play with friends at Jewish summer camp, has become the 20-year-old Berkeley native’s lifelong passion and full-time job.  Steuer — who had a bar mitzvah in addition […]

(JTA) — The Anti-Defamation League is bolstering its advocacy on Wall Street by absorbing JLens, an organization known for rating companies on their alleged support for the Israel boycott, according to an announcement on Thursday by the ADL. Founded in 2012, JLens was for years one of the only groups pressing pro-Israel positions in the […]

(JTA) — Jewish groups thought Elon Musk was listening to them about antisemitism on Twitter. Then Kanye West came back. In the week after the rapper who now goes by Ye lost most of his endorsements due to his antisemitic rants, and amid an apparent uptick in broader antisemitic content on the platform, the Anti-Defamation […]

(JTA) — A man was taken into custody after authorities in Birmingham, Alabama, investigated a suspicious fire adjacent to a synagogue there on Friday. The fire, which came as Jews across the United States are on high alert, was determined not to be motivated by hatred against Jews, Rabbi Steven Henkin of Temple Beth-El told […]

(JTA) — Two Jewish Democrats who were believed to have a shot at open seats in the Tampa area lost Tuesday night as Florida overall shifted hard toward Republicans. Eric Lynn, a former Obama administration defense official with deep ties in the Tampa area Jewish community, lost Tuesday in the 13th District and Alan Cohn, […]

(JTA) — The overarching narrative from Tuesday night’s pivotal midterm election slate was clear by Wednesday morning: the Republican Party’s hopes of a sweeping red wave have been dashed. But how did the issues and candidates that Jewish Americans were watching most closely fare? Here are our initial insights from the first rounds of results. […]