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Showing posts from May, 2024

Israelis in New York protest members of Netanyahu’s coalition participating in annual Israel parade

For the second year in a row, Israeli political divides are spilling over into the leadup to New York City’s Israel parade, as hundreds have signed a letter protesting the participation of Israeli government officials in Sunday’s lineup.  The signatories — largely Israelis who live in the New York City area — have asked the parade’s organizers to exclude members of Israel’s governing right-wing and religious coalition. The letter charges that the coalition “failed Israelis in the most horrific way on October 7th and every single day since then” and has not done enough to free Israelis held captive by Hamas.  “This government has shown repeatedly that the hostages are not its priority,” says the letter, dated Thursday. “Members of the government that has brought Israel to its lowest point in its entire existence should not be celebrated in NYC.” The activists sent a separate letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul saying that marching with the Israeli officials was “an affront ...

Families of Oct. 7 victims beg for peace. By ignoring them, Israel’s government dishonors their loved ones’ memories

In horror, I watched a video of a Palestinian man in Gaza holding up a dead child’s lifeless body, the area behind him engulfed in flames.  And as I looked at the devastation wrought by an Israeli strike that killed more than 40 civilians in a displacement camp near Rafah on Sunday, I thought of Yonatan Zeigen. Zeigen is the son of the late Vivian Silver , a peace activist killed by Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. In an interview only a week after the massacre, when Silver was still believed to be a living hostage in Gaza, he was asked what his mother would think of Israel’s military response.  “She’d be mortified,” he said . “Because you can’t cure dead babies with more dead babies.” Israel has promised to honor the victims of Oct. 7. But who is being honored when more than 40 innocent civilians in a tent camp for the displaced are killed after an Israeli airstrike? Of course, the victims of Oct. 7 were not all alike, and neither are their families. There were som...

Did Labour suspend a candidate for liking a Jon Stewart joke?

In  a rare bit of international commentary, Jon Stewart filmed himself being screamed at by a throng of his correspondents when he considered weighing in on a ground invasion into Gaza. This wasn’t from his 2024 Daily Show tenure, it’s from 2014 — but the clip has staying power. Now, that decade-old clip is having repercussions for a British politician. Sort of. Faiza Shaheen was barred from standing as a candidate for Britain’s Labour Party for liking 14 social media posts over a decade, among them one that linked to the clip of Stewart on The Daily Show. Related opinion ‘Daily Show’ Picks Jon Stewart’s Top Jewish Bits Stewart, seen in the clip cowering while his colleagues barrage him with talking points about how Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and how he’s a self-hating Jew, wasted no time weighing in on the controversy. This is the dumbest thing The UK has done since electing Boris Johnson…what the actual fuck… https://t.co/n6Ekibi5is — Jon Stewa...

Viral meme urges ‘all eyes on Rafah’ — yet it fails to show Rafah at all

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During the Black Lives Matter summer of protests, it felt like everyone was posting black squares to their Instagram pages. For women’s rights, people posted black and white photos of women. For queer rights, abortion rights, and fighting antisemitism, there have been Facebook profile photo templates.  Now, the viral template is for Gaza.  “All eyes on Rafah,” reads an AI-generated image of endless tents in a desert, neatly arranged in rows. The image, which appears to have been created by a Singaporean-Malaysian content creator on Instagram who has made numerous shareable templates, has been shared more than 44 million times in the wake of Israel dropping munitions in a refugee camp near Rafah over the weekend, killing 45 Palestinians sheltering there and wounding more than 240 in the blast and subsequent fires. The post’s sentiment, and its slogan, is a common one. Without journalists and neutral observers on the ground — especially given the high civilian death toll — on...

Critically acclaimed Israeli film offers great performances, family tension, and nostalgia for an unsavory past

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Editor’s note: This review includes major spoilers for the film. Though it relies on familiar narrative elements like culture clash, family conflict and festering resentments that culminate in explosive confrontation, Ayelet Menahemi’s Seven Blessings opens the window on a little-known tradition that until fairly recently existed among some Moroccan Jews and others of Mizrahi descent. As the film tells it, since a barren wife ran the risk of being dumped by her husband, then shamed and shunned as a slut when she became a divorcee, her fertile sister, usually the mother of a large flock, might gave away her young or even infant daughter (but never a son) to her infertile married sister. Set in the ’90s, the movie, which won 10 Ophir Awards (the Israeli Oscars), including best picture, and is the opening night selection at the Israel Center Film Festival , is for the most part a fast-paced, visually compelling, gripping narrative. The acting is superb across the board. Forty-yea...

How I helped bring the story of Hollywood’s Jewish founders to the Academy Museum — where it belongs

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When the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opened its doors in September 2021, I expected it to pay homage to Hollywood’s pioneer Jewish moguls. These men transformed themselves from immigrant and first-generation shtetl Jews to personifications of the American dream (Lazar Meir became L.B. Mayer; Schmuel Gelbfisz became Sam Goldwyn; Wilhelm Fried Fuchs became William Fox; and Hirsz, Aron, Shmul, and Itzhak Wonskolaser became Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack Warner) and launched an iconic, globally influential American industry. My great-grandfather, Fox Film, later 20 th Century-Fox, production head Sol M. Wurtzel, was one of these men. Wurtzel and his colleagues developed eight major motion picture factories (Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Universal, Paramount, United Artists, Warner Bros., Columbia and RKO) in a Southern California outpost studded with citrus groves, bean fields and oil derricks.  After I first visited the Academy Museum and discovered it lacked substantive content fea...

300 bereaved families join lawsuit against Palestinian Authority, Hamas

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Hundreds of families whose loved ones were murdered or kidnapped on October 7 and of fallen IDF soldiers  are suing the Palestinian Authority and Gaza-based terrorist organizations for over 2 billion shekels       from ynet - News https://ift.tt/Dl63Cxq

A hauntingly bizarre musical upends Stephen Sondheim’s signature maxim — here, everyone is alone

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At first glance, Dave Malloy’s oeuvre looks a little like a series of dares. Best known for supplying book, music, lyrics (and orchestrations) for Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 — his Broadway debut, adapted from a 70-page sliver of War and Peace — Malloy had an equally ambitious pre-pandemic year; in 2019, he adapted Moby-Dick at Harvard’s American Repertory Theater, and created the much-lauded, brain-explosion-emoji-warranting Octet , the first musical to premiere at Signature Theatre in Manhattan since its founding in 1991. The latter, inspired by the 22 cards in a Major Arcana tarot deck , was an a capella musical set at a support group for internet addicts (I know, astounding that no one beat him to the punch on that one). Octet launched Malloy’s historic five-year residency at Signature. Thus, it should surprise no one that, in Malloy’s second outing at the Sig, alongside director Annie Tippe (with whom he previously collaborated on Octet and 2014’s Ghost Qua...

Talks to resume for a hostage release deal

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After Hamas says no negotiations possible while IDF offensive in Gaza continues Israel's negotiating team to begin discussions with mediators who are to relay Israel's position to Hamas; Netanyahu rejects claims he is putting obstacles in the path of a deal from ynet - News https://ift.tt/tOQF4kp

'We have no other country and I have no other home," Metula mayor says

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Border town home for 2,000, founded as a symbol of Zionism 128 years ago is now deserted only a security team, a handful of farmers and the mayor remain after 35% of homes are damaged by Hezbollah fire  from ynet - News https://ift.tt/v2oAplQ

Hezbollah rockets target Galilee causing damage, fires

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IDF says struck launcher after barrage of 25 rockets target Kiryat Shmona following another barrage of 30 rockets targeting the area of Safed; IDF reportedly kills Islamic Jihad operative on Lebanon-Syria border  from ynet - News https://ift.tt/2Ntieb6

South Africa's ANC facing defeat after championing Palestinians not economy

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Critics said accusations against Israel in the ICJ are in effort to distract from failures at home including crime, unemployment, poverty and corruption  from ynet - News https://ift.tt/yOi18hA

Police, pilgrims clash at Mount Meron as access restricted due to security concerns

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Hundreds force their way into military-restricted zone amid recurring Hezbollah attacks; violent clashes lead to suspension of officers pending investigation from ynet - News https://ift.tt/eZRhyq4

'You have become the son of the entire nation': Thousands of mourners attend funeral of hostage Hanan Yablonka

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Large crowds accompany Yablonka on his final journey with applause and waving the national flag; 'I want to tell Hamas - you will never defeat us,' says grieving mother from ynet - News https://ift.tt/diurTVk

Hamas claims to have kidnapped soldiers in Jabaliah, IDF spokesperson denies it

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Hamas releases a video in which they claim to have killed and kidnapped soldiers in Jabaliyah; IDF spokesperson denies authenticity of video: 'There is no incident of soldier abduction'  from ynet - News https://ift.tt/640fCso

Video of terrorist telling how Matan was abducted published without family's knowledge

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Terrorist shares in interrogation how Matan was abducted: 'I saw him hiding among the trees, he said his name is Matan and I took him, and then 15 people came and took him from me to Gaza' IDF Spokesperson Hagari admits video of the interrogation was published without the parents' knowledge from ynet - News https://ift.tt/REC8oKy

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps: 'Ideological army' for special assignments

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The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps assists the regime in dispersing demonstrations, reinforcing the modesty police, broadcasting propaganda, and more; Here's what you need to know about the IRGC from ynet - News https://ift.tt/Wz2Cwpx

Why a Harvard rabbi walked off the stage at commencement

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Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi, who leads Chabad at Harvard, tried to get the university’s featured graduation speaker to clarify remarks that sounded antisemitic to him. Courtesy of Harvard Chabad From his seat on the stage at Harvard’s commencement, Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi, who leads the university’s Chabad , watched hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters walk out of the Thursday ceremony. He heard speakers honor students who had, in his view, hijacked the campus this past school year as they slandered Israel and Jews. It was a “really vile program,” he said of the ceremony. Then, featured speaker Maria Ressa, the Nobel Prize-winning Filipino American journalist, took the podium. She talked about protecting free expression and the perils of disinformation — and the price she paid for accepting Harvard’s invitation. “ I was attacked online and called antisemitic,” she said. “By power and money. Because they want power and money. While the other side was already attacking me because I had been...

How university presidents have failed us during this turbulent year on campus

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As my niece graduated from Syracuse University this month, her dad — my brother-in-law — shared a story from his time at Haverford College. It was 1986, and one of the people slated to receive an honorary degree, Drew Lewis, had sparked controversy on campus because of his role in the Reagan administration breaking the air traffic controllers’ strike. Twenty-eight professors signed a letter of protest, and a few dozen students wore white armbands at commencement. Lewis, after a speech defending his actions during the strike, startled the crowd by ripping off the ceremonial hood. He explained that he believed in the Quaker values that guided Haverford — he was Class of 1953 — including the goal of consensus. Since there was no consensus on him getting the degree, he declined it.  The crowd roared in standing ovation. At first I heard this as a story of courage, humility and a less-toxic political moment. But as it sank in, I began to see a cautionary tale for all that has gone so...

‘This is why you earned an F’: Stefanik grills Northwestern’s Jewish president over campus antisemitism

Rep. Elise Stefanik lit into the Jewish president of Northwestern University Thursday morning over his handling of antisemitism at his college, much as she had grilled other university presidents who testified before the House Education Committee. But Michael Schill, while clearly frustrated by Stefanik’s attempts to paint him as callous toward the sufferings of Jewish students, calmly defended his response to pro-Palestinian protesters, which included a deal to get them to dismantle their encampment voluntarily. There are “lots of investigations underway,” Schill said after Stefanik listed allegations of antisemitic incidents on campus, including Jewish students being assaulted, harassed and spat on. She wanted to know how many students had been expelled or suspended yet. None yet had, Schill said, leaving open the possibility that some would. “We will investigate any claim of discrimination or harassment,” Schill repeated.  “This is why you’ve earned an F” from the Anti-Def...