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The News Shticker: AJL folds, Gibson gets a wedgie, and the Bronfmans take Utah
American Jewish Life, one of the finer Jewish magazines in circulation, has folded citing economic woes. Editor-in-chief Benyamin Cohen, author of the forthcoming book My Jesus Year, will be moving on to greener pastures – and by that we truly mean “green:” Cohen will be assuming the role of editorial director at a soon-to-launch environmental news agency. We wish him much success in his new venture. The Guardian’s film blog takes note of the proverbial “wedgie” delivered to Mel Gibson by Adam Sandler in You Don’t Mess with the Zohan. Pratt’s Chabad shaliach and Up, Up and Oy Vey! author Simcha Weinstein explores the Incredible Hulk’s Jewish undertones in the Jewish Press. I wonder if he’s seen Eli Valley’s latest comic. Alec Baldwin dishes on “his true Jewish self” to the Jewish Channel. An Orthodox-run real estate agency in Brooklyn has been hit with a discrimination suit after investigators found the company engaged in “systematic” prejudice against black clientele. The Bronfman family will be taking over Park City, UT for a three-day conference called “Why Be Jewish” that sports an invite-only all-star guest list. The Vatican has responded to Jewish demands that they open the books on Pope Pius XII by insisting that the Jewish community opens up its own archives from the era. The Papacy, however, was hard pressed to name a single archive the Jews haven’t already exhausted numerous times over. A Lebanese-born American man accused of providing material support to Hezbollah has insisted that the judge hearing his case recuse himself because, as a Jew, he cannot possibly be impartial. Daily Show contributor Lewis Black’s new book Me of Little Faith explores the author’s relationship to his Jewish identity as well as his feelings on religious matters in general. The other Telegraph reports that Jean Sarkozy, the 21-year-old son of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, is considering converting to Judaism after his upcoming marriage. Read more »
Exploring the Jewish community press’ election coverage
Huffington Post’s Tom Edsall, Commentary’s Jennifer Rubin, Politico’s Ben Smith, The Chicago Sun Times’ Lynn Sweet & MSNBC’s Matt Berger participate in the AJPA 2008 Annual Conference, June 24, 2008. Photo by Daniel Sieradski. Earlier today, JTA editor-in-chief Ami Eden moderated a panel on election coverage at the American Jewish Press Association‘s 2008 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.. The panel featured the Huffington Post’s Tom Edsall, Commentary’s Jennifer Rubin, Politico’s Ben Smith, the Chicago Sun Times’ Lynn Sweet and MSNBC’s Matt Berger, each of whom offered valuable insight into campaign coverage as it’s been handled by the Jewish press, how the Jewish press can improve its coverage, as well as how the mainstream American press has presented the Jewish community’s politics in this election cycle. The full audio of the panel discussion is available below. Read more »
Walt & Mearshimer take on “The Lobby” in Israel
Stephen Walt, at the podium, with “Israel Lobby” co-author John Mearshimer and Israel activist Uri Avnery at a speaking engagement in Tel Aviv on June 12, 2008. Photo by Dina Kraft. In the following podcast, JTA’s Israel correspondent Dina Kraft speaks with Harvard Professor Stephen Walt, co-author of the controversial book “The Israel Lobby” who, with his co-author John Mearshimer of the University of Chicago, visited Israel last week on a speaking tour sponsored by the Israeli peace organization Gush Shalom. Walt said he welcomed the dynamic and lively debate in the Jewish State and said he hoped their book might prompt discussion about the policies of the Israel lobby among Israelis themselves. You can read Ms. Kraft’s full story on the subject here. [audio:/images/archive/061808_kraft_walt.mp3] Audio sound funny? Upgrade your Flash player. To subscribe to JTA’s Behind the News podcast, click here. Read more »
Artist envisions new state for Jewish discontents
In this podcast, JTA German correspondent Toby Axelrod interviews Ronen Eidelman, an Israeli artist studying abroad in Weimar, Germany, whose senior thesis project – seeking the establishment of a Jewish state in Germany – which launches this coming Sunday, is already ruffling some feathers in Germany and abroad. You can read Ms. Axelrod’s full story on the subject here. (Full disclosure: I am a friend of Mr. Eidelman’s and an adviser on this project. I also accidentally named this initiative.) [audio:/images/archive/061808_axelrod_eidelman.mp3] Audio sound funny? Upgrade your Flash player. To subscribe to JTA’s Behind the News podcast, click here. Read more »
The News Shticker: “Post-racial” black haredim… on ice!
The N.Y. Times profiles Yosef Abrahamson, the black chasidic Crown Heights teen who won an essay contest a couple of weeks ago, suggesting he may be Brooklyn’s perfect representative. Over at Jewschool, Y-Love takes an axe to the Times’ suggestion in the aformentioned story that John McCain, who Abrahamson supports, is a “post-racial” candidate. See also: My interview with Y-Love over at Jewcy. The Independent reports, “The Israeli military has come under renewed pressure to explain why its tank shells killed a Reuters cameraman and eight other Palestinians on a road in Gaza two months ago.” The N.Y. Times’ Philip Galanes tells a non-Jewish reader who joined JDate – and who still hasn’t told the guy she met on the site that she’s not a member of the tribe – to come clean. Former Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo is heading to Israel to perform with his band Down next month. Alarmingly, when a blogger (my sister, incidentally) pointed out the fact that Anselmo has connections to the White Nationalist movement and a history of making racist remarks, furthermore suggesting that he shouldn’t be welcomed to Israel, the show’s promoter Lior Kamali responded by threatening to “smash [her] face.” What a mentsch! And finally, two rich Jews make another shonde for the goyim. Read more »
The News Shticker: Celebrity status
Borat director Larry Charles and comedian Bill Maher have teamed up on a new film, Religulous, which ridicules the most ridiculous behavior of individuals and communities of faith. To promote the film, the team has launched Disbeliefnet, a spoof on News Corp’s religious community site Beliefnet. Among their targets are the kosher phone and haredi anti-Zionist sect Neturei Karta. E! remarks on mock-mekubal Ashton Kutcher’s Omer beard. Ex-mock-mekubal Britney Spears is on a Costa Rican vacation with anti-Semitic conspiracy buff Mel Gibson. Valleywag shares exclusive photos from the wedding of Randi Zuckerberg, sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who had a lavish Jewish ceremony in Jamaica last week. Semites on Bikes, a Jewish motorcycle club, is raising money for the Humane Society with a kitty porn calendar. The BBC has footage of masked Israeli settlers physically attacking Palestinians in the West Bank. Read more »
Colbert on Israel’s new national bird, plus kosher giraffes
Nextbook’s Jonathan Rosen has an op-ed in the NY Times on the hoopoe. Also, here’s more on kosher giraffe milk. Read more »
Thomas Friedman in Israel
JTA correspondent Dina Kraft caught up with New York Times columnist and author Tom Friedman in Tel Aviv last week, where he was speaking at a conference sponsored by the Reut Institute, an Israeli think tank. [audio:/images/archive/061108_friedman_kraft.mp3] Audio sound funny? Upgrade your Flash player. To subscribe to JTA’s Behind the News podcast, click here. Read more »
Osama sends Israel belated birthday wishes
The Onion reports, In an unexpected act that Israeli president Shimon Peres called “thoughtful,” al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden sent a belated threat to Israel Monday in honor of the Jewish state’s 60th birthday. “Old fart!” read the front of the card in a font designed to look like ancient stone tablets. “Did you actually think I would forget my favorite infidels on their special day? Celebrate while you still can, dirty Zionist dogs!” bin Laden wrote under a caricature of a grinning al-Qaeda member wearing a birthday hat and a suicide belt, preparing to board a bus full of Israeli citizens. A visibly moved Peres told reporters he would return the gesture by sending a bouquet of a dozen F-15Is fighter jets to Lebanon next week. Read more »
The News Shticker: Neo-Nazis for Israel
A German neo-Nazi faction has declared its support for the state of Israel, claiming that “Instead of destroying the Jews we should have taken every measure possible to support the Zionist movement.” Yosef Abrahamson, a Black hasidic teenager from Crown Heights, got to be commanding officer of his local police precinct for a day after winning an essay contest about healing racial tensions. An arrest warrant has been issued for Yitzhak Shuchat, a member of Brooklyn’s Shmira Civilian Patrol, who is alleged to have participated in a hate crime attack against a Black Crown Heights resident. New York Magazine profiles NY State Assemblyman and frum Lower East Side throwback Sheldon Silver. A NYC attorney whose firm is committed to defending women against sexual harassment is now himself in the dock for sexual harassment. Jack Tuckner of Tuckner Sipser Weinstock & Sipser is accused, among other things, of telling a non-Jewish coworker that she was “the ultimate shiksa so highly coveted by inner-city Jews such as him.” Menachem Froman, the chief rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Tekoah, makes the case for advancing religious dialogue with Hamas. Gawker has compiled a list of the most popular websites among Jewish Internet users. The Andrea & Charles Bronfman Philanthropy’s Reboot project and San Francisco’s new Contemporary Jewish Museum will be hosting an arts festival Saturday night to celebrate the museum’s grand opening, as well as the upcoming holiday of Shavuot. A new video game being developed by grad students at the University of Virginia allows players to go back in time to kill the main characters of the Bible and the Quran in order to stop the spread of religion. The UK’s Movement for Reform Judaism, with the support of the Muslim Institute, has launched a new initiative to promote interfaith dialogue online: Faithbook. A wax sculpture of Hitler soon to be exhibited at Madame Tussaud’s new wax museum in Berlin has sparked outrage among Jewish and non-Jewish Germans alike. Read more »
RSS Feed Breaking News
Updated 05/24/12 @ 04:11PM EST
- Jewish groups called on Israel to protect African migrants in Israel after riots in Tel Aviv.
- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel is returning campaign donations under investigation by federal authorities.
- A new survey suggests that Germans have lost some love for Israel over the past three years.
- An Arab-Israeli immigrant to the United States was found guilty of murder in Michigan.
- Israel's Arava Power Company has closed on financing for eight solar power projects worth $204 million.
- U.S. Jewish groups condemn anti-African violence in Tel Aviv
- Mandel returns funds under investigation
- Obama’s same-sex marriage nod echoes historic Catholic-Jewish debate
- Survey: Israel losing ground with Germans
- Israeli Arab guilty of murder in Michigan
- Israel’s Arava firm finances $204 million for solar projects
- Israel will solve African migrant problem, Netanyahu assures
- Senate distinguishes between Palestinian refugees and descendants
