Western Jews

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment) – How convenient that the dynamic of sports and politics now collides with the question of “Who is a Jew?”* And just in time for the closing ceremonies of the 2020 Olympics. The prompt for this age-old dialectic comes back to who has a right to marry whom in […]

Islam

Islamic Judaism? (Video)

Emir-Stein Center

John Tolan | Emir-Stein Center “In the 19th century, some Jewish scholars in Central Europe looked to early Islam and in particular to the Prophet Muhammad for inspiration and consolation. For these scholars, the Muslim prophet could serve as a heuristic model for reforming Judaism. John Tolan, Professor of History at the University of Nantes, […]

Antisemitism

The Republican Party’s Iran-Level Superstitious Anti-Semitism: Greene claimed Jewish Space Laser started Cali Wildfires

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Golnaz Esfandiari reports on controversies currently roiling Tehran over the belief in supernatural beings, genies (jinn or djinn), among the country’s ruling ayatollahs. Esfandiari writes, that Iran’s clerical Leader recently said, “There are enemies from among both genies and human beings, and they help one another. The security services of […]

Antisemitism

Auschwitz 75 years on: preserving survivors’ voices and listening to those of their children

The Conversation

By Sara Jones | – In December 2019, four people were shot dead at a kosher market in New Jersey, a horrific knife attack was perpetrated at a rabbi’s home in a New York suburb, and antisemitic graffiti was daubed on a synagogue and several shops in north London. Despite what many might think, antisemitism […]

Antisemitism

How American anti-Semitism reflects the centuries-long struggle over the meaning of religious liberty

The Conversation

By Tisa Wenger | – Americans recently observed the first anniversary of the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, in which 11 were killed and six wounded. A year earlier, white supremacist marchers in Charlottesville, Virginia, chanted the slogan, “Jews shall not replace us.” Synagogues around the country have also been defaced […]

Antisemitism

On Anniversary of Tree of Life Synagogue Massacre: US Jews a Face Trump-Fuelled Far Right and a Fringe Left

H. Scott Prosterman

(Informed Comment) – October 27 marks the one-year anniversary of the Tree of Life Congregation massacre in Pittsburgh. This was a result of President Donald Trump giving aid and comfort to sinister right-wing forces, which had been buried under rocks of Western Civilization until he gave the all-clear signal. Since then, violent acts of anti-Semitism […]

Israel/ Palestine

Jewish Liberalism v. Jewish Nationalism: How Trump’s tweets on Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib Pitched an Old Divide

The Conversation

By Noam Pianko |- President Trump recently asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deny entry to two Democratic congresswomen planning to visit Israel. Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, Trump claimed, “hate Israel and all Jewish people.” Within a few hours, the Israeli prime minister banned the representatives. Subsequently, Trump questioned how any Democrat […]

Antisemitism

A Special Postcard: Speaking out against Concentration Camps, by a Survivor

contributors

By Anne-Ruth Wertheim A special postcard Note 1) Translation in English: Penny Sandford & Wiesje Wijngaarden On 18 December 1944 my mother, my sister, my little brother and I were deported to a Japanese internment camp for Jews. By sending him a postcard my mother wanted to notify my father, who had been interned in […]

Antisemitism

In US History, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism have Gone together as Hate Speech

The Conversation

By Peter Gottschalk | – Congresswoman Ilhan Omar tweeted recently that “Islamophobia and anti-Semitism are two sides of the same bigoted coin.” Her comments came in response to media reports that the suspect behind the shooting at a San Diego synagogue was also under investigation for burning a mosque. Hate crimes associated with both Islamophobia […]