May 2, 2022Rep. Tom Malinowski in Washington.Stefani Reynolds/Pool via APWashington can be a perilous place for organizations that support Palestinian rights. In March, after Amnesty International’s in the city, Paul O’Brien, defended its recent that Israel is practicing apartheid and suggested that many American Jews might be satisfied with a state that didn’t favor Jews over Palestinians, 25 Jewish House Democrats him of antisemitism.A year earlier, when Human Rights Watch the apartheid charge, members of Congress accused the organization of fomenting antisemitism too. But in a strange...…May 2, 2022Rep. Tom Malinowski in Washington.Stefani Reynolds/Pool via APWashington can be a perilous place for organizations that support Palestinian rights. In March, after Amnesty International’s in the city, Paul O’Brien, defended its recent that Israel is practicing apartheid and suggested that many American Jews might be satisfied with a state that didn’t favor Jews over Palestinians, 25 Jewish House Democrats him of antisemitism.A year earlier, when Human Rights Watch the apartheid charge, members of Congress accused the organization of fomenting antisemitism too. But in a strange...WW…

October 18, 2021FeatureThis article appears in our issue.to receive the latest issue in your mailbox.ON MAY 13TH, three days after Israel began its most recent bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip, a group of progressive legislators gathered on the floor of the House of Representatives for an unprecedented session. Dispersed across the mostly-empty chamber in accordance with Covid protocols, the lawmakers—including most members of the group of legislators of color known as “the Squad”—rose one by one to express a position that only recently had seemed politically marginal: support for placing...…October 18, 2021FeatureThis article appears in our issue.to receive the latest issue in your mailbox.ON MAY 13TH, three days after Israel began its most recent bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip, a group of progressive legislators gathered on the floor of the House of Representatives for an unprecedented session. Dispersed across the mostly-empty chamber in accordance with Covid protocols, the lawmakers—including most members of the group of legislators of color known as “the Squad”—rose one by one to express a position that only recently had seemed politically marginal: support for placing...WW…

April 26, 2022Paul Newman in the 1960 film Exodus, directed by Otto Preminger.Screen Prod / AlamyDiscussed in this essay: Hollywood and Israel: A History, by Tony Shaw and Giora Goodman. Columbia University Press, 2022. 368 pages.The myth that Jews control the media lies at the heart of virtually every modern iteration of antisemitism. Emerging from the conspiratorial notion of “Jewish influence” over the global economic order, it remains prevalent in mainstream American discourse, even as the bluntness of its language has somewhat softened. Instead of claiming that “the Jews” dictate what...…April 26, 2022Paul Newman in the 1960 film Exodus, directed by Otto Preminger.Screen Prod / AlamyDiscussed in this essay: Hollywood and Israel: A History, by Tony Shaw and Giora Goodman. Columbia University Press, 2022. 368 pages.The myth that Jews control the media lies at the heart of virtually every modern iteration of antisemitism. Emerging from the conspiratorial notion of “Jewish influence” over the global economic order, it remains prevalent in mainstream American discourse, even as the bluntness of its language has somewhat softened. Instead of claiming that “the Jews” dictate what...WW…

March 1, 2022Matt Duss, foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, stands before the Holodomor Memorial in Washington, DC, March 26th, 2019.David Klion(This article originally appeared in the Jewish Currents email newsletter; !)Progressive Democrats in Congress reacted to last week with calls for targeted sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle, a more generous US refugee policy, and a quicker transition to green energy (given the Russian economy’s reliance on oil and gas). One of the key figures advancing those ideas is Matt Duss, Sen. Bernie Sanders’s...…March 1, 2022Matt Duss, foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, stands before the Holodomor Memorial in Washington, DC, March 26th, 2019.David Klion(This article originally appeared in the Jewish Currents email newsletter; !)Progressive Democrats in Congress reacted to last week with calls for targeted sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle, a more generous US refugee policy, and a quicker transition to green energy (given the Russian economy’s reliance on oil and gas). One of the key figures advancing those ideas is Matt Duss, Sen. Bernie Sanders’s...WW…

and March 17, 2022Members of Jewish Voice for Peace call for an end to the Anti-Defamation League's police delegations to Israel during an October 2019 protest outside the organization's New York City office.Courtesy of Jewish Voice for PeaceAs protests against police brutality raged in June 2020, senior Anti-Defamation League (ADL) employees recommended that the organization end its controversial practice of sending police delegations to Israel, according to a draft internal memo obtained by and Jewish Currents. The —authored by ADL senior vice president George Selim and Greg Ehrie, its...…and March 17, 2022Members of Jewish Voice for Peace call for an end to the Anti-Defamation League's police delegations to Israel during an October 2019 protest outside the organization's New York City office.Courtesy of Jewish Voice for PeaceAs protests against police brutality raged in June 2020, senior Anti-Defamation League (ADL) employees recommended that the organization end its controversial practice of sending police delegations to Israel, according to a draft internal memo obtained by and Jewish Currents. The —authored by ADL senior vice president George Selim and Greg Ehrie, its...WW…

March 22, 2022A sports bar in Michigan showcases a boycott of Russian vodka on March 13th, 2022.Adam J. Dewey/NurPhoto via APFor those of us who have advocated for the use of boycotts, divestment, and sanctions as tools to advance Palestinian rights only to be told that they are illegitimate, the international response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine highlights Western governments’ willingness to embrace these tactics when policymakers identify with the victims of a crisis. In the three weeks since the war began, 46 countries have on Russia, and a broad range of corporate entities have...…March 22, 2022A sports bar in Michigan showcases a boycott of Russian vodka on March 13th, 2022.Adam J. Dewey/NurPhoto via APFor those of us who have advocated for the use of boycotts, divestment, and sanctions as tools to advance Palestinian rights only to be told that they are illegitimate, the international response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine highlights Western governments’ willingness to embrace these tactics when policymakers identify with the victims of a crisis. In the three weeks since the war began, 46 countries have on Russia, and a broad range of corporate entities have...WW…

April 27, 2021A church in South Dakota. Photo: Danita Delimont / Alamy Stock Photo.THIS YEAR, over 100 anti-transgender bills have been introduced in more than 25 state legislatures, the vast majority of them banning trans kids, especially girls, from participating in organized sports in school, as well as prohibiting or even criminalizing the delivery of gender-affirming healthcare. One of these bills was North Dakota’s HB 1476, which sought, in its own words, to “prohibit the state from creating or enforcing policies that directly or symbolically respect nonsecular self-asserted sex-based...…April 27, 2021A church in South Dakota. Photo: Danita Delimont / Alamy Stock Photo.THIS YEAR, over 100 anti-transgender bills have been introduced in more than 25 state legislatures, the vast majority of them banning trans kids, especially girls, from participating in organized sports in school, as well as prohibiting or even criminalizing the delivery of gender-affirming healthcare. One of these bills was North Dakota’s HB 1476, which sought, in its own words, to “prohibit the state from creating or enforcing policies that directly or symbolically respect nonsecular self-asserted sex-based...WW…

Even before Benjamin Netanyahu’s return to power in November 2022, the Biden administration began working behind the scenes to try to contain the right-wing Israeli prime minister and his more extreme political partners. In October, ahead of the Israeli elections, AIPAC stalwart Sen. Robert Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, visited Netanyahu to warn him against forming a coalition with Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the far-right Kahanist Jewish Power party. Netanyahu ignored him. In November, with coalition negotiations ongoing, US officials urged...…Even before Benjamin Netanyahu’s return to power in November 2022, the Biden administration began working behind the scenes to try to contain the right-wing Israeli prime minister and his more extreme political partners. In October, ahead of the Israeli elections, AIPAC stalwart Sen. Robert Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, visited Netanyahu to warn him against forming a coalition with Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the far-right Kahanist Jewish Power party. Netanyahu ignored him. In November, with coalition negotiations ongoing, US officials urged...WW…

May 10, 2022Farmers in Moisés Ville, Argentina.Military PCF / Alamy Stock PhotoDiscussed in this essay: The Murders of Moisés Ville: The Rise and Fall of the Jerusalem of South America, by Javier Sinay, translated by Robert Croll. Restless Books, 2022. 288 pages.In 1891, a time of heightened antisemitism and frequent pogroms across the Russian empire, the German Jewish philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch bought 17 million acres of rural Argentine land for Jews to farm. Refugees from tsarist Russia had already started emigrating to Argentina, whose government wanted immigrants to come...…May 10, 2022Farmers in Moisés Ville, Argentina.Military PCF / Alamy Stock PhotoDiscussed in this essay: The Murders of Moisés Ville: The Rise and Fall of the Jerusalem of South America, by Javier Sinay, translated by Robert Croll. Restless Books, 2022. 288 pages.In 1891, a time of heightened antisemitism and frequent pogroms across the Russian empire, the German Jewish philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch bought 17 million acres of rural Argentine land for Jews to farm. Refugees from tsarist Russia had already started emigrating to Argentina, whose government wanted immigrants to come...WW…