By BEN SALES (JTA) — Israeli officials are decrying reports that the United States plans to sanction an Israeli military unit for human rights abuses, a step the State Department has never before taken.  By יעסיעס – via Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0 The report of sanctions comes amid escalating violence in the West Bank. Last week, an Israeli teenager was murdered in what authorities said was a terror attack, and deadly riots by settlers followed. In recent days, an Israeli military raid resulted in the deaths of 14 Palestinians and injuries to 10 Israeli soldiers.  On Sunday, the n ..read more

(JNS.org) – Tech giant Google denounced anti-Israel protests on Tuesday at its corporate offices in New York City, where four were arrested out of about 50 activists, and in Sunnyvale, Calif., where five arrests were made among 80 or so activists. Google offices in California. (Credit: Tada Images/Shutterstock) “Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened,” Chris Rackow, Google vice president of global security, wrote in an internal memo noting that the demonstrators had taken over offices, vandalized property and interrupted those at work. In r ..read more

By LUKE TRESS (JTA) — The State Department on Friday announced sanctions against Ben Zion “Bentzi” Gopstein, a prominent far-right Israeli activist, for his “destabilizing” activities in the West Bank, along with two Israeli organizations that raised funds for sanctioned settlers. Lehava chairman Benzi Gopstein seen after a court hearing on March 31, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90) The penalties were the third round of sanctions the State Department has levied against far-right Israelis in recent months, as the Biden administration attempts to exact a price for West Bank violence. Gopstein is ..read more

By LUKE TRESS (New York Jewish Week via JTA) – With a phalanx of police outside its gates and student protesters crowding the street, Columbia University erupted in unrest Thursday over the Israel-Hamas war.  Students and pro-Palestinian activists face police as they gather outside of Columbia University to protest the university’s stance on Israel on April 18, 2024 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) The mass demonstration at New York City’s Ivy League school and its aftermath represented an escalation after months of tensions over the war. On Wednesday morning, students awo ..read more

By RON KAMPEAS WASHINGTON (JTA) — Police arrested the son of a prominent Washington D.C.-area rabbi after he allegedly got into an altercation with protesters outside the Israeli Embassy. Demonstrators gather outside of the Israeli Embassy to demand for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip in Washington DC, March 2, 2024. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images) Two witnesses quoted in a Secret Service police arrest sheet accused Ezra Weinblatt, a real estate agent and the son of Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, who leads Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Potomac, Maryland, of pushing them on April 16 at around n ..read more

(JNS.org) – Eighteen people were injured on Wednesday when a Hezbollah attack targeted a community center in Arab al-Aramshe in the Western Galilee. Air-raid sirens were not activated in the Bedouin border village. Medical and security personnel at the scene of a Hezbollah terrorist attack in Arab al-Aramshe in the Western Galilee, April 17, 2024. (Photo by Magen David Adom) Magen David Adom emergency medics treated the victims on the scene before evacuating them to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya. One victim arrived in critical condition and required surgery, the hospital said. Two ..read more

By RON KAMPEAS WASHINGTON (JTA) — Voting along party lines, the U.S. Senate buried impeachment proceedings targeting the Jewish Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington D.C., Dec. 6, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images) All 51 senators caucusing with Democrats voted on Wednesday to adjourn the impeachment before proceedings started. All 49 Republicans voted against adjourning, with one voting present on one count of impeachment ..read more

By RON KAMPEAS WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Biden administration does not want tensions between Iran and Israel to “escalate” after Iran’s massive attack on Israel over the weekend, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told American Jewish leaders. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken answers questions during a press conference with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron at the State Department, Dec. 7, 2023. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) Blinken called the meeting at the State Department on Tuesday morning as Israel contemplates how and when to retaliate against Iran. Blinken underscored how ea ..read more

By PHILISSA CRAMER (JTA) — The hearing in Congress on Dec. 5 could hardly have been more consequential: Two of the three Ivy League university presidents who testified about antisemitism on their campuses soon resigned, while their leading interrogator, Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, morphed into an unlikely hero for American Jews, including many who tend to lean liberal. Nemat Shafik, president of Columbia University (Photo by UK Department for International Development via Wikipedia.) Now, the congressional panel investigating antisemitism on college campuses is, for the first time, recon ..read more

By LUKE TRESS (JTA) — The number of antisemitic incidents more than doubled last year, shooting up particularly following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit. The ADL and other Jewish organizations, in addition to law enforcement agencies, have reported a spike in antisemitism after Oct. 7, as protests against Israel have taken place across the country. But the ADL report found that antisemitic incidents were rising prior to Oct. 7, and that even after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, nearly half of the reported incidents did not directly ..read more