AJC Dispatch

Spotlight

This week on AJC Passport, Congressman Brad Schneider (D-IL), the Democratic co-sponsor of the anti-BDS bill recently passed by the House, discusses President Trump’s description of “disloyal” Jewish Democrats and the fallout from Israel’s decision to bar two Congresswomen from visiting Israel. We also hear from Dr. Kurt Graham, director of the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, to share the significance of President Truman’s role in the rebirth of modern Israel.

Must-reads

After a Week of Controversy, What’s at Stake for American Jews?
The New York Times / 3-minute read
Not 24 hours after U.S. Representatives Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) railed against the Israeli government’s decision to bar them from Israel during a Monday press conference, President Trump escalated matters by suggesting that American Jews who vote for Democrats are either disloyal or uninformed. And after the President’s remarks on Tuesday, AJC “called on President Trump to stop such divisive rhetoric and retract his disparaging remarks.” AJC CEO David Harris told CNN that President Trump's charge of disloyalty is dangerous to American Jews, stressing the importance of depoliticizing antisemitism. In this New York Times column, Bari Weiss cuts to the heart of the matter, dissecting the week’s controversy and the stakes for American Jews. Read more

Two Years After Marching in Charlottesville, Ohio Man Arrested for Plotting JCC Attack
JTA / 2-minute read
Just a week after America observed the second anniversary of the violence in Charlottesville, a white supremacist who participated in the infamous Unite the Right rally was arrested in Ohio for threatening to attack a Jewish community center. In a chilling Instagram post last week, James P. Reardon Jr., 20, shared a video of himself shooting an assault rifle with a caption that read “Police identify shooter of Youngstown Jewish Family Center as local white nationalist Seamus O’Rearedon.” Read AJC’s primer on what the rise of white supremacist violence means for the American Jewish community post Pittsburgh and Poway. Read more

Momentum in the Campaign to Designate Hezbollah a Terrorist Organization
The Jerusalem Post / 2-minute read
This week, Paraguay designated Iran-backed Hezbollah a terrorist organization. The move came a month after Argentina did the same and reports from Latin America indicate Brazil is considering following suit. With each new designation, the pressure on the EU grows to end the farcical reality that Hezbollah’s supposed political, but not military wing, can be allowed to operate on the continent. Concern is rising about Hezbollah’s terrorist operations, which stretch from Europe to Latin America to Africa and especially in the Middle East, where the organization recently adopted the arson tactics of the terror group Hamas, setting miles of northern Israeli territory afire. Read more

Good to Know

How the U.S. and Israel Are Prepping For a Conflict with Iran
The Times of Israel / 4-minute read
It’s a potential geopolitical nightmare: no one knows the next move of a mysterious Iranian oil tanker rumored to be on its way to Syria in violation of EU sanctions. After Gibraltar rebuffed a U.S. request to seize the tanker, Greece refused to allow the ship entry to its ports. As the questions swirl about this mystery ship, which is believed to have ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, American and Israeli special forces recently completed a large-scale exercise in the Mediterranean Sea simulating the takeover of a merchant ship. Read more

Israel Election Update: A Deal Between the Center and Right
Bloomberg / 4-minute read
With less than a month to go before Israelis head to the polls for the second time in six months, the top challenger to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, Blue and White, inked a surplus vote sharing deal with the party responsible for blocking Netanyahu’s formation of a government in April, Yisrael Beytenu, headed by Avigdor Liberman. Over the last month, the centrist Blue and White party, headed by former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, has consistently polled even with Likud. Read more

White Supremacists Launch Russian-Style Twitter Attack Using Fake Jewish Accounts
JTA / 3-minute read
The U.S. Jewish community has come under attack by a group of white supremacists after a post on the anonymous message board site 4chan called for a “massive movement of fake Jewish profiles” on Facebook and Twitter. Overnight new Twitter accounts with pictures of real Jews began harassing and trolling, sowing discord and spreading antisemitism both within the Jewish community and outside it. Read more

Tidings

Ugandan Jewish Leaders with a Special Connection Travel to Pittsburgh
The Amazing Tale of the WWII French Jewish Woman Spy
Majorca, Now a Jewish Paradise

The articles featured here do not necessarily reflect AJC’s positions.

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