Category: Liberal Jews

American Jewry, Celebrity MOTs, Israel, Liberal Jews

Democratic Nominee Hopeful Joe Sestak Wants Israel U.S. Embassy Move Redo

Democratic hopeful Joe Sestak

For years, presidents promised to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, but it took Donald Trump to follow through. Now Joe Sestak, who is one of the many Democrats hoping to win the nomination for president in 2020, says he wants a redo. “We need to move the embassy back out of Jerusalem, …

American Jewry, Celebrity MOTs, Israel, Liberal Jews

Alan Dershowitz Enthusiastic About Voting for a Biden Perceived by Many as Anti-Israel

attorney alan dershowitz

Joe Biden has a long history of anti-Israel actions, as covered in this JNS piece by Jackson Richman. And still, Alan Dershowitz has gone on record with Dan Abrams of Fox News as an enthusiastic supporter of Biden: “I’m a strong supporter of Joe Biden,” Dershowitz responded. “I like Joe Biden. I’ve liked him for …

American Jewry, Israel, Liberal Jews

American Jews Ask Trump to Stop Bibi From Annexing Judea and Samaria

signature

Nine Jewish organizations signed a letter asking President Trump to prevent Israel from annexing the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria. The organizations are Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Union for Reform Judaism, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, MERCAZ, the Rabbinical Assembly, the Anti-Defamation League, Ameinu, the National Council of Jewish Women and the …

American Jewry, antisemitism, Israel, Liberal Jews

BDS has Changed the Narrative About Israel

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) Yeugene [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

Adalah, an organization that works for the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, held a protest outside Carnegie Hall on February 3. That was the venue for a fundraising brunch on behalf of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO), which was followed by a performance. This leads one to wonder: what is the purpose …

American Jewry, antisemitism, Liberal Jews

Head Coverings In, Israel Out

Ilhan Omar

Jewish Democrats may have been upset to find they’d been duped about Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s BDS leanings. Especially since she denied being in favor of BDS during the election and changed her tune only after she was in. But there is still something to give us Jewish nachas: Omar is pushing to remove the ban …

Freedom of religion, Israel, Liberal Jews

Leftist Writer Weakens Support for Israel in the United States

Gershom Gorenberg (Joe Mabel [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

Gershom Gorenberg, writing in the Washington Post, claims that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weakens support for Israel within the United States. But the piece is so full of lies and distortions that one wonders that the Washington Post let it stand. Gorenberg’s main gripe is Israel’s new Nation-State law, but Israeli laws are not …

Israel, Liberal Jews

Falling Stone: What Does it Mean After Tisha B’Av?

Azrat Yisrael egalitarian prayer plaza, Western Wall

A stone fell out of the Western Wall, early Monday morning, the day after we celebrated Tisha B’Av (albeit a day late because of Shabbat). The mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat and city engineer Shlomo Eshkol came to inspect the fallen stone and the decision was made to fence off the area until the Antiquities …

Conservative Movement, Liberal Jews

Jews Respond to Kavanaugh Nomination

The announcement of federal judge Brett Kavanaugh as President Trump’s nominee to replace retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy brought with it the condemnations we’ve come to expect after, well, any announcement by President Trump. And because of claims that Kavanaugh will overturn Roe vs. Wade, the outcry is particularly loud from Jewish groups, who …

antisemitism, Israel, Liberal Jews

BDS Activist Denied Entry Into Israel

Ariel Gold Code Pink

Israel’s starting to wise up. You can be a democracy without letting people who hurt you have free reign to wreak havoc in your country. That is what Jewish American BDS activist Ariel Elyse Gold of Code Pink discovered when her plane landed in Tel Aviv. This is a nasty woman who agitates against Israel …

Celebrity MOTs, Intermarriage, Liberal Jews, Reform Movement

Novelist Michael Chabon Against Jewish Endogamy

Michael Chabon signing his book at a book signing in 2006

We already knew that novelist Michael Chabon and wife Ayelet Waldman are not on Israel’s side in the Arab war against the Jews. But now Chabon has come out against Jews marrying Jews. Significantly, he did so in an address to the latest graduating class reform rabbis at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion …