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• Should Bill Clinton have shared a stage with Louis Farrakhan at Aretha Franklin’s funeral?

  September 7, 2018 2:52pm

  NEW YORK (JTA) — Former presidents recently served as eulogizers for Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, and U.S. Sen. John McCain, the “maverick.” Barack Obama and George Bush spoke for McCain, a former rival of both, while Bill Clinton did the same for Franklin, who performed at his 1993 inauguration. Neither funeral escaped controversy….

• Critics question Israel’s warm welcome for Filipino strongman Rodrigo Duterte

  August 30, 2018 4:50pm

  (JTA) — President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, who regularly brags about murdering civilians and has compared himself to Adolf Hitler, is set to arrive in Israel on Sunday for a visit that has been widely criticized by both Israelis and Americans. Duterte will arrive in the Jewish state on Sunday for a four-day visit…

• These young professionals still believe in the two-state solution. Are they too late?

  August 30, 2018 12:16pm

  NEW YORK (JTA) — The Israel Policy Forum was founded in 1993 to build support for the Middle East peace process and its “inevitable” solution: two states, one Jewish, one Palestinian, living side by side. Twenty-five years later that plan appears more elusive than ever, with some politicians and pundits declaring the two-state solution dead…

• Amid controversy, NY State Senate candidate aims to clarify her Jewish identity

  August 24, 2018 4:44pm

  NEW YORK (JTA) — New York State Senate candidate Julia Salazar is pushing back against an article on a Jewish website describing discrepancies in her Jewish and family biography. Salazar, 27, a democratic socialist running for a seat in Brooklyn’s 18th district, has been profiled in various Jewish and general media, including JTA, which note…

• In Brooklyn, a Jewish Latina democratic socialist rallies for a State Senate seat

  August 23, 2018 2:14pm

  NEW YORK (JTA) – On a deceptively humid August night following an unusually cool August day, The Springs transforms into the provisional home of a burgeoning progressive Jewish revolution. Julia Salazar, a Jewish Latina democratic socialist candidate in New York’s 18th State Senate District, is the object of the night’s political adoration at this “very…

• Ivanka Trump’s ex-business partner faces federal fraud probe

  August 17, 2018 4:00pm

  (JTA) — The Department of Justice is suing Moshe Lax, Ivanka Trump’s friend and former business partner, for his alleged role in schemes to defraud the federal government. Lax attempted to defraud the government out of millions in tax liabilities on his father’s estate, according to Politco. The suit, brought in the Southern District of New York,…

• Former Sen. Norm Coleman says his cancer is at advanced stage

  August 15, 2018 11:40am

  (JTA) — Former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman says the cancer he first started battling three years ago is at the most advanced stage and has spread to his lungs. Coleman, 68, who served recently as the chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition, announced the cancer’s return in a social media post. In October 2015, Coleman had surgery for tonsil…

• Why Spike Lee’s ‘BlacKkKlansman’ is a cautionary tale for 21st-century Jews

  August 13, 2018 5:40pm

  Spoilers for “BlacKkKlansman” below. NEW YORK (JTA) — In 1965, two young Jewish men, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, were murdered along with black activist James Chaney by Ku Klux Klansmen in a Southern horror memorialized in the 1988 film “Mississippi Burning.” My own Jew-adjacent summer camp showed the film to us when we were about 12,…

• Progressives have a new definition of racism: ‘prejudice plus power.’ What does that mean for Jews?

  August 10, 2018 3:38pm

  NEW YORK (JTA) — Are Jews too powerful to be considered “victims” of racism? Some progressives think so and have been downplaying accusations of anti-Semitism in light of a debate over prejudice and power. This week, The New York Times took heat for hiring Sarah Jeong, a technology writer, to its editorial board. Some have…

• Self-proclaimed Holocaust revisionist running for Hilton Head mayor

  August 7, 2018 2:30pm

  (JTA) — A self-proclaimed Holocaust revisionist is planning a run for mayor of Hilton Head, South Carolina, but says his beliefs will not impact his local anti-development platform. Michael Santomauro, 59, filed papers to enter the race on Monday, according to the Island Packet. Santomauro, who founded a roommate-matching service, made headlines in New York City in 2003…