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Boston Globe
5 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Brick reading ‘Free Palestine' thrown through window of Brookline kosher grocery store
Brookline police are investigating an incident in which a brick reading 'Free Palestine' was thrown through the window of a Kosher grocery store June 15, 2025. Marcela Rodrigues 'Individuals came with the purpose of vandalizing our store, using political slogans as a cover to spread intimidation and hatred,' the statement read. 'Let us be clear: this was not a statement of protest, it was an attack on the Jewish community. This was not about policy or politics. It was an act meant to threaten, to isolate, and to target us for who we are.' Dena Snyder, a Newton resident who's on the board of directors of Temple Emanuel and is a regular shopper at The Butcherie, said she was 'heart sick' when she heard the news Sunday morning. Related : Advertisement 'Jews are just feeling really threatened everywhere, and I think that there's a heightened concern about the safety of American Jews,' she said. 'The amount of antisemitism that my children are living with is really different from [what] I experienced growing up.' Advertisement Antisemitic incidents have been on the rise since Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to the Anti-Defamation League. In 2024, a total of 638 incidents of assault, harassment, and vandalism were reported in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, according to the ADL, up from 628 in 2023. In a statement on social media, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said the incident is concerning and unacceptable. 'Acts of violence and intimidation have no place in our communities. We stand with our Jewish neighbors against antisemitism,' she said. 'Everyone deserves to live, pray and do business without fear in Massachusetts.' Marcela Rodrigues can be reached at
New York Post
12-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Arkansas families sue to keep 10 Commandments out of classroom before new law takes effect
Arkansas families are suing to block the 10 Commandments from being displayed in public school classrooms as required by a new state law. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a bill into law in April requiring the Ten Commandments and the 'national motto, 'In God We Trust'' to be 'prominently' displayed on posters in Arkansas classrooms and public buildings. Advertisement The school mandate takes effect in August. The posters, which must meet a certain size requirement, must be donated or funded through private donations, the law states. Schools are allowed to use public funds or donations to replace any noncompliant display with a compliant display. A coalition of multi-faith families argued in their legal challenge that the religious display requirement violates their religious freedom and parental rights. Advertisement 'Permanently posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library — rendering them unavoidable — unconstitutionally pressures students into religious observance, veneration, and adoption of the state's favored religious scripture,' the lawsuit states. 'It also sends the harmful and religiously divisive message that students who do not subscribe to the Ten Commandments—or, more precisely, to the specific version of the Ten Commandments that Act 573 requires schools to display—do not belong in their own school community and pressures them to refrain from expressing any faith practices or beliefs that are not aligned with the state's religious preferences.' 3 Families in the state of Arkansas have filed a lawsuit to prevent the display of the 10 Commandments in public schools across the state, citing a new law that is set to take effect. Getty Images The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the families by the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation. Advertisement 'As American Jews, my husband and I deeply value the ability to raise our children in our faith, without interference from the government,' Plaintiff Samantha Stinson said in a press release. 'By imposing a Christian-centric translation of the Ten Commandments on our children for nearly every hour of every day of their public-school education, this law will infringe on our rights as parents and create an unwelcoming and religiously coercive school environment for our children.' 3 The bill, which was signed by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, will take effect in August. AP It names four school districts in northwest Arkansas — Fayetteville, Bentonville, Siloam Springs and Springdale — as defendants. Advertisement The plaintiffs are asking for a preliminary injunction to pause the implementation of the law while the lawsuit is pending, according to the ACLU. Fayetteville Public Schools, Bentonville Schools and Siloam Springs School District told Fox News Digital they do not comment on pending litigation but 'it appears after reviewing the court filing, that the lawsuit aims to challenge the constitutionality of a new Arkansas law that will take effect in August rather than challenging any action taken by [the school districts named in the lawsuit].' 3 The families who filed the suit claim that the new law violates their religious freedom. AP Springdale Schools did not immediately return a request for comment. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed a similar bill into law last year which has also faced legal challenges. A federal judge temporarily blocked the measure before it was to take effect in January, calling it 'unconstitutional on its face.' Louisiana defended the religious display in a federal appeals court in January. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
San Francisco Chronicle
12-06-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Feds detain two Palestinian visitors at SFO who arrived for humanitarian mission
Two Palestinian visitors expected to participate in a Bay Area interfaith speaking series were detained at the San Francisco International Airport Wednesday, despite having valid visitor visas, and are being denied entry into the U.S., advocates told the Chronicle. San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood told the Chronicle early Thursday morning that there was an 'urgent situation unfolding' at the airport after police detained the two men, who were scheduled to speak at a series of Bay Area interfaith events. Protesters were already expected to swarm SFO to support the two men, whose identities are being withheld to protect their safety. The two men, residents of a Bedouin village on the West Bank, were invited by local faith communities, including the Kehilla Community Synagogue and the Buena Vista and Los Altos United Methodist Churches, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. One of the men is an artist and photographer. The other is a teacher. Both are parents. Phillip Weintraub, a lead organizer of the Kehilla Community Synagogue's partnership with the men's village, said both men were not connected to any Palestinian political organizations and were committed to nonviolence. One had met previously with congressional representatives, including the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Weintraub said. The two activists had speaking engagements in Alameda, Santa Clara, Oakland and other Bay Area cities. 'They had valid visas but were invalidated on entry without cause,' Mahmood said in a text. 'I am here with their Jewish sponsors, whose synagogue they were here to speak at tomorrow.' Mahmood said in a social media post that the two activists have been held at the airport since 1 p.m. Wednesday and were prepared to send them back on a plane to the Middle East. Bay Area faith leaders demanded that the two men be released immediately and for the State Department and Department of Homeland Security to 'stop targeting Palestinian travelers' and uphold the right to free speech and 'peaceful interfaith exchange.' Weintraub said his community has had a relationship with the men for three years as part of an interfaith 'reparative alliance' envisioned as connecting American Jews, Israelis and Palestianians to promote non-violence in Israel and Palestine. 'They're known, wonderful folks,' Weintraub said. 'Coming over to connect, promote interfaith connection between Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities. They're trying to survive and live in peace.' Weintraub said he arrived at the airport after 1 p.m. yesterday to pick them up for a flight from Doha, but they never showed up. He received a call from a Customs and Border Protection agent that night saying, 'they will not be entering the United States,' he said. This is a developing story. Check for updates.
Los Angeles Times
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Being Jewish on campus amid Trump's campaign against antisemitism: ‘tremendous heartache'
Protesters were chanting slogans Alyssa Wallack had never heard at USC, shouting so loudly that she thought demonstrators were inside the lecture hall where she was attending class. 'Globalize the intifada!' she recalled hearing. 'From the river to the sea...,' they yelled. It was Oct. 17, 2023 — 10 days after Hamas launched a terrorist attack against Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took hundreds as hostages. Wallack, who is Jewish, said she had to 'escape.' 'I freaked out, and I ran out of class and started sobbing,' said Wallack, 23, who served as student board president of USC Chabad. 'It felt like everyone was against me, which I know is not so accurate. But I just remember sitting in my class, not able to learn. ...Were some of the people who I thought were my friends part of these protests, chanting things that were not only offensive but also antisemitic?' In the months ahead, Wallack said, she didn't feel safe on campus. She wasn't alone. Other Jewish students at the University of Southern California said that after the Hamas attack — and the war it triggered — they, too, felt unsafe amid pro-Palestinian protests. At UCLA, where a large encampment sparked a violent confrontation that led to dozens of arrests, Jewish students expressed similar sentiments. As the academic year draws to a close — USC's commencement was last month, UCLA's is in mid-June — The Times interviewed 12 Jewish students and professors at the universities who reflected on their campus experiences since Oct. 7. They wrestled with two questions: Did you feel safer this school year? And did Donald Trump's campaign against antisemitism have anything to do with it? The complexity of their answers was, for some, rooted in Trump's aggressive move in a Jan. 29 executive order 'to combat the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses' and 'investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities.' His actions — coming amid a surge in violence targeting American Jews, from Colorado to Washington D.C. — have included attempts to deport college students who've espoused pro-Palestinian views. Trump's offensive — aimed at mainly elite universities, which he claims have enabled antisemitism — has roiled academia, with billions of dollars of federal funds threatened or withheld. USC and UCLA are among the schools under investigation by a Department of Justice 'task force to combat antisemitism.' Yet, some students and professors said Trump is using antisemitism as a cudgel to achieve his political objectives and exert his influence over higher education. A few doubted the president's sincerity and questioned whether his tactics would, in the long run, leave American Jews better off. David N. Myers, a professor of Jewish history at UCLA, said that slashing federal funding for universities because of their response to campus antisemitism points to the 'very cynical and completely misguided nature of this campaign.' 'It's not about antisemitism,' he said. 'It's about enfeebling and dismantling the university, in which Jews actually have a very huge stake. ...I think many, many, many people or groups will suffer, including Jews.' Following the start of pro-Palestinian demonstrations last year, both USC and the University of California implemented new, stricter protest rules or began enforcing existing ones, such as their bans on encampments. At UCLA, protesters cannot wear masks or block paths, and demonstration areas are restricted. USC, a private university, has closed campus gates and requires identification to enter. A relatively calm academic year at UCLA and USC followed. Yet jarring recollections endure. UCLA junior Gal Cohavy, 20, recalled two encounters last spring: One friend was physically threatened, and another struck in the head with a water bottle. Other actions were, he said, alarming: 'Walking around campus with a kippah on, I saw a swastika.' Cohavy began carrying pepper spray. Many Jews have taken issue with Israel's war in Gaza and the country's treatment of Palestinians, and protested the Jewish state's actions alongside like-minded activists. Some have also spoken out against Islamophobia, and pointed out that Trump has taken no action in response to reported increases in anti-Muslim harassment or discrimination. Myers said he didn't feel unsafe last year — what he felt was uncomfortable. That's because he believed it was necessary to condemn both the Oct. 7 attack and 'the excess of Israel's response in Gaza.' 'There is a distinct feeling for me of not fitting into either of the two most prominent camps,' he said. 'I felt some sense of aloneness.' Asked if he still felt that way, Myers paused. 'Yeah, to some extent.' Nearly all of the Jewish people interviewed for this story expressed pro-Israel views, to varying degrees. Although most said they felt safer this year, nearly every discussion was laced with caveats — a reflection, perhaps, of how personal the issue has become. And traumatic. 'It wasn't just unsafe — it was traumatizing,' said USC professor Hagit Arieli-Chai, who teaches modern Hebrew. Encountering protesters and their anti-Israel signs and slogans last spring, she said, forced her to confront 'hatred ... in unequivocal ways.' Arieli-Chai, who said one of her cousins was killed in the Oct. 7 attack, tried to avoid campus, going there only to teach. Some said they attributed an improved sense of campus safety to tightened university protest polices, or other factors — and not Trump. Others praised the president. And yet another group said it's hard to pinpoint reasons. 'It strikes me as a false claim to knowledge for anyone other than a trained sociologist who's done a serious survey ... to say it's because of' one factor or another, said David Nimmer, a professor from practice at UCLA School of Law. Some who credited Trump for an improved campus climate expressed a sense of discomfort, worrying about billions of dollars in potential funding cuts across higher education and an illiberal stifling of speech, among other issues. 'I am not the slightest supporter of the Trump administration,' said Nimmer. But, 'to the extent that anyone comes in and diminishes ... antisemitism, that is a step in the right direction.' A few questioned the sincerity of Trump's support of the Jewish people. 'Now we're being used to justify, I would say, frankly, illegal actions [in] the case of the administration,' said Dylan Julia Cooper, 22, who graduated from USC in May. 'We are being used for his own goal of ... taking out anybody who disagrees with him.' Yoav Gillath, 22, who also just graduated from USC, said he 'wanted to believe' that the president's goal was fighting antisemitism — but wasn't sure how to interpret the administration's actions. 'I wish they were more transparent with exactly why they're making the decisions that they are about various universities,' said Gillath, 22. UCLA senior Bella Brannon said she is troubled by Trump administration funding cuts to 'life-saving research.' But she said, overall, 'Jewish students are happy to see some sort of action taken.' 'For far too long, nobody was even upholding the rules and policies that were in place — not to mention the law,' she said of universities' response to antisemitism. 'It's absolutely no surprise that the government is taking action.' One word came up in several interviews: 'angst.' 'I have a tremendous amount of angst every day,' Nimmer said. 'I am ... someone who is devoted to democracy. And yet I feel that the duly elected leader in the United States and the duly elected leader in Israel are both tearing down the very structures on which the countries are founded. And it's causing me tremendous heartache every day.' The mix of dread and relief reflected in some comments also appeared in the nonpartisan American Jewish Committee's recent open letter that praised a federal task force on antisemitism but warned about the effect of deep cuts at universities. 'We are concerned that ... lifesaving scientific research and other critical fields that have little connection to the areas where antisemitism has manifested may be harmed by arbitrary, across the board cuts to grants and research contracts,' the letter said. Last spring, Westwood was suffused with rage. The encampment erected by pro-Palestinian activists became a global news story in May after a melee instigated by pro-Israel counterdemonstrators erupted. UCLA's inability to stop it sparked intense criticism. The violence, among the university's darkest chapters, brought change. Those interviewed noted a turning point: Julio Frenk — whose German Jewish father fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s — becoming chancellor on Jan. 1. The university has also overhauled security and hired LAPD veteran Steve Lurie to lead the new Office of Campus Safety. Noting the 'pain and fear' that antisemitism had brought on campus, Frenk said, 'UCLA is unwavering in its commitment to building a campus community in which Jewish students — and all members of our community — feel safe, respected and welcome.' Senior Mia Toubian, 20, who is news editor of Ha'Am, UCLA's student-run Jewish newsmagazine, praised Frenk for banning Students for Justice in Palestine as a campus organization in March following a protest the group held in front of a UC regent's house that was vandalized. 'It's gotten a little bit better,' said Toubian, 20, who added that she feels 'relatively' safer now, but 'objectively still not completely safe.' Brannon, the magazine's editor in chief, recalled how she was followed home after covering a protest last spring. 'I got really, really scared,' she said. Once, she was spat at while walking to class. But Brannon, 22, feels less safe now. That's partly because, she said, the 'fringe of the fringe' have continued to demonstrate with few repercussions. She noted a recent incident that illustrated how — even with UCLA's tighter rules — ruptures still occur. In March, pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked access to a campus building, draping it with a banner that equated UCLA police and the Israeli military with the Ku Klux Klan. They evaded law enforcement. 'I'm worried that without sanction, it is getting more unsafe for Jewish students,' Brannon said. Lurie said that when police approached the building to arrest those blocking the entrance, they 'ran and kind of scattered.' The protesters' faces were covered, he said, making it impossible to identify them via recordings. But some at UCLA said the changes have been dramatic — for the better. Sharon Nazarian, founder of the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies at UCLA, noted a peaceful UCLA Hillel vigil and walk through campus to mark the first anniversary of the Hamas attack would have been 'unfathomable the previous academic year.' 'That,' she said, 'is a sea change for me.' A few USC students praised university leadership for protecting Jewish students. Ben Sheyman, 22, grew up in San Francisco, but his life as a Jew was partly shaped by his immigrant parents' experience in their home countries: Ukraine and Belarus — places where Jews were persecuted. When his family came to the U.S., it was supposed to be different. 'Here, you are as American as anybody else,' said Sheyman, who graduated this spring. But walking to class in the 2023-24 school year, Sheyman would see signs with slogans like 'End Zionism.' It was, he said, 'really unsettling.' Still, Sheyman felt unsafe just once, when a crowd of masked protesters held items emblazoned with 'Nazi symbols,' he said. The tighter security changed things for the better, he said. Cooper also felt safer in recent months, but related an upsetting run-in. She wears a Star of David necklace, and once, in the months after the Oct. 7 attack, a passerby hurled an extremely offensive Jewish slur at her as she walked near campus. She praised administrators' decision to close the campus gates, even if she has some reservations. 'Whether it's politically correct or not, I do feel safer,' she said. USC said in a statement that it 'continues to publicly and unequivocally denounce antisemitism in all its forms and has taken strong actions to protect all of our students ... from illegal discrimination of any kind.' It also touted the 'enhanced security protocols' and the launch of new mandatory seminars 'devoted specifically to free expression and civic discourse.' For some at USC, though, the fractures in their lives — the loss of friendships, the alienation from peers or professors — linger. People like Wallack. Her time at USC after the Oct. 7 attack was discombobulating. She left her sorority because she felt it did not voice sufficient support for Israel, and moved home. 'I don't really feel like I found my people at USC as a result of Oct. 7,' she said. Sitting in the shade at the USC Village in early May, Wallack touched her Star of David necklace and explained that she would not attend graduation ceremonies. Instead, Wallack departed for Israel. A business fellowship awaited.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Jewish groups in US line up to oppose Trump anti-Semitism strategy
US Jewish groups are unified over the need to fight mounting anti-Semitic incidents across the country, but many are bitterly opposed to how President Donald Trump is seeking to counter the scourge. A string of incidents has targeted Jews in the United States in recent weeks. Two Israeli embassy workers were murdered in Washington, Molotov cocktails were thrown at an event in Colorado, and tensions persist on university campuses. The conservative Heritage Foundation think-tank, behind the "Project 2025" roadmap for radically overhauling and shrinking the government, published in October "Project Esther" -- a blueprint on combatting anti-Semitism. The project seeks to "dismantle" so-called "anti-Israel," "anti-Zionist," or "pro-Palestinian" organizations allegedly part of a "Hamas support network" that has "infiltrated" universities including Columbia and Harvard. The text advocates the dismissal of professors, barring some foreign students from campuses, expelling others outright, and withholding public funding from universities. Robert Greenway, a Project Esther co-author, recently told The New York Times it was "no coincidence that we called for a series of actions to take place privately and publicly, and they are now happening." The Heritage Foundation refused an interview request. Stefanie Fox, director of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), said "Project Esther sets out a blueprint for the Trump administration to sharpen the legal regimes that will best advance (his) 'Make America Great Again' goals." The JVP, a Jewish organization that leads demonstrations against "genocide" in Gaza, is named in Project Esther as a member of the so-called Hamas support network. "These assumptions are baseless, paranoid, laughable," said Fox, whose group is on the left. - 'Weaponizing' anti-Semitism? - Although 89 percent of the 7.2 million US Jews say they are concerned about anti-Semitism, 64 percent disapprove of Trump's efforts to combat it, according to a recent Jewish Voters Resource Center poll. "There is anti-Semitism on those campuses... But to give the broad claim that the thrust to fight anti-Semitism is to go after higher education is just absolutely ridiculous," said Kevin Rachlin. He is a prominent figure in the Nexus Project formed in opposition to Project Esther that seeks to counter anti-Semitism without impairing freedom of speech. Trump's strategy "doesn't keep Jews safe." Rather, it seeks to separate the Jewish minority from others in the country and ignores right-wing anti-Semitism, Rachlin argues. "We as Jews are safer when we're in coalition with other groups and other minorities," he said, adding that combatting anti-Semitism through education was more viable than targeting universities. Traditional Jewish groups have aligned more with Trump's Republicans and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, unlike the "majority" of American Jews, claims author Eric Alterman. "What's happened in Gaza has been very hard for most American Jews -- particularly young American Jews -- to stomach. Young American Jews are now roughly evenly divided between supporting Israel and supporting the Palestinians," he told AFP. Alterman added most US Jews are not anti-Zionist -- but don't like the war in Gaza or Israel's West Bank strategy. "They're kind of caught in the middle." Some Jewish groups warn that when Trump targets higher education purportedly combatting anti-Semitism, he is actually "weaponizing" the sensitive issue to stifle freedom of expression. In recent weeks, ten major Jewish organizations criticized the Trump administration in a letter, saying they reject the "false choice" between "Jewish safety" and "democracy." "There should be no doubt that anti-Semitism is rising" but access to "higher education, and strong democratic norms... have allowed American Jewry to thrive for hundreds of years," the letter states. One of the signatories, rabbi and former ambassador for religious freedom David Saperstein, said there was "appreciation" for Trump prioritizing anti-Semitic violence and rhetoric -- but opposed the clampdown on universities, media and judges. He added: "Ironically, they are targeting democratic institutions that have given the Jewry in America more rights, more freedom, more opportunities than we have ever known in our 2,600 years of diasporic history." gl/gw/dw/st
