Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department spokesman, moderates a press conference at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China, on June 19, 2023, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to his left(n. Credit: Chuck Kennedy/U.S. State Department. Andrew Bernard Any security pact between the United States and Saudi Arabia would be contingent on a normalization agreement between the Saudis and Israel, the U.S. State Department said on Thursday. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a press briefing that while Riyadh and Washington have made significant progress on U.S.-Saudi bilateral ne ..read more

President Joe Biden speaks from the Roosevelt Room of the White House on May 2. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images via JTA.org) WASHINGTON — In his first address about the pro-Palestinian protests rocking campuses nationwide, President Joe Biden said “order must prevail” but rejected proposals to bring in federal troops. “Dissent must never lead to disorder, or to denying the rights of others so students can finish the semester and their college education,” Biden said Thursday in the four-minute speech. “It’s basically a matter of fairness. It’s a matter of what’s right. There’s the right to protest ..read more

Elon Musk. (SOPA Images/Design by Grace Yagel via JTA.org) Ron Kampeas Elon Musk says he will restore the X account of Nick Fuentes, the Holocaust denier and antisemite who has said “perfidious Jews” should be executed. “Very well, he will be reinstated, provided he does not violate the law, and let him be crushed by the comments and Community Notes,” Musk said Thursday on the social media platform he bought in 2022 and renamed from Twitter. “It is better to have anti whatever out in the open to be rebutted than grow simmering in the darkness.” Musk was responding to a plea on the pl ..read more

Student anti-Israel protesters are arrested by police and removed from the campus of Columbia University in New York City on April 30. (Luke Tress via JTA.org) Luke Tress More than a quarter of the people arrested when police cleared pro-Palestinian protesters out of an occupied building at Columbia University on Tuesday night were not affiliated with the school, the NYPD said. An initial analysis by police found that of the 112 people arrested at Hamilton Hall, 80 were affiliated with Columbia. The remaining 32 were neither students nor faculty, the NYPD told the New York Jewish Week. The rol ..read more

Rob Costin. Photo by Jon Marks Jon Marks Rob Costin didn’t set out in life to be Waldo, the guy who stands out in a crowd. It wasn’t in his game plan to be Norm from “Cheers,” whom they immediately recognize and congregate around when he walks into the room. In fact, the man who grew up in the clothing business before turning to real estate nearly 40 years ago is kind of sheepish about all this attention. But that’s what happens when you show up at services every Shabbat dressed more garishly than anyone in the place. “He’s someone who wears not the most modest, conservative suits,” said David ..read more

Larry Litwin. Photo by Nancy Litwin Jon Marks Despite all the years plying his various trades — radio and TV reporter, college professor, author and umpire for more than 2,000 baseball and softball games — in many ways Larry Litwin is still the same “young fella,” as Howard Cosell used to call him. While that was more than 50 years ago and the 78-year-old Litwin has reached an age where most men and women might start winding down, he’s still constantly on the go. Not only that, but the man who not only worked with Cosell but Howard K. Smith, Frank Reynolds and Peter Jennings during his time at ..read more

Karl Middleman. Photo by Carol Bates/Bates Photography, Inc. Leslie Feldman “Fiddler on the Roof” is a beloved musical with a timeless relevance. The musical explores timeless themes such as tradition, family, love and change, which continue to resonate with audiences of all ages and backgrounds. For Karl Middleman, 70, of Merion, the love of the musical has taken him “behind the scenes” so-to-speak and has led him to explore a creative avenue based on the play. “I happened to be reading Yiddish author Sholem Aleichem’s stories entitled “Tevye, the Dairyman.” Those stories are the basis for th ..read more

Howard Cooper. Courtesy of Howard Cooper Alan Zeitlin Philadelphia resident Howard Cooper, 67, was on the ground, working hard in Jewish education in Boston and Connecticut, running Hebrew schools and Jewish camps. Then he got the itch to get in the air. I kind of burned out after a number of years, so I started taking flying lessons 15 years ago,” Cooper said. “I continued the training until I became an instructor.” Originally from Detroit, he founded Jews in Aviation, a community of Jewish pilots, in 2009. “When I became a pilot, I figured I would join a Jewish pilot’s group except there was ..read more

When Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, the Greater Philadelphia community was stunned and horrified. Deep sorrow and helplessness invaded the community in the following weeks and months. Despite this collective grief, there were, and continue to be, so many from the community who have dropped everything to go to Israel and help provide emergency aid during this crisis. Through the Jewish Federation’s emergency solidarity missions, congregation initiatives and other independent volunteer opportunities, Greater Philadelphia has shown up for Israel to deliver aid packages, offer support to victims ..read more

Andrew Lapin While hundreds of Israel protesters on campuses across the country came to blows and arrests continued to mount this week, students in Providence, Rhode Island, faced a calmer reality on Wednesday. There, the tents in the pro-Palestinian demonstration came down peacefully. And the organizers of the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” celebrated, dancing and partying on Brown University’s Main Green. That’s because they achieved a landmark victory: In exchange for ending their encampment now and pausing all future campus actions through commencement, Brown’s administration agreed tha ..read more