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9 stories that defined our Jewish year in 2023 before Oct. 7
(JTA) — On Oct. 6, JTA led its morning newsletter with an article that had long been in the works — and that we expected to drive conversation in the days ahead: It was a profile of a Jewish dad in Florida who had pushed to ban hundreds of books — including Anne Frank’s diary — from school libraries.
The ongoing saga of book bans in school libraries, and how they ensnared works about the Holocaust and other Jewish topics, is a story our reporter Andrew Lapin, and JTA more broadly, had focused on all year. For much of 2023, book bans seemed like one of the topics that would define American Jewish life this year.
Then Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack happened, plunging Israel into war and upending life not only there but for Jews in the United States and across the world. For the past 10 weeks, nearly everything we have covered at JTA — from advocacy for Israeli hostages to antisemitism to discourse on college campuses — has related back in some way to the Oct. 7 attack and the Israel-Hamas war.
In the wake of that cataclysm, it sometimes feels like everything else American Jews once thought and talked about has taken a backseat. But before the Hamas attack, there were important and complex topics that occupied and characterized Jewish life this year — not least an(other) upheaval in Israel.
Here are nine stories that defined our year before Oct. 7.
Protesters at the summit of Moms For Liberty, the “parents’ rights” group behind many book challenges across the United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 30, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images))
A campaign spreads to ban books, including Jewish ones, from school libraries
The book ban movement, driven by conservative “parents’ rights” groups such as Moms for Liberty, wasn’t only a Jewish issue: Activists largely sought to ban books about race and gender, claiming that they were inappropriate for children. But those campaigns, sometimes targeting large numbers of books at once, often swept up Jewish books in their dragnet.
One book that faced challenges in multiple school districts — some of them successful — was a graphic novel adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary. The Holocaust graphic novel “Maus” was also hit with challenges. One of the most prolific participants in the book ban movement was that Florida Jewish dad.
More generally, some American Jews felt that the book ban movement built on a tradition of censorship that has often boded poorly for the Jews. And even when the bans didn’t target Jewish books, Jews were sometimes implicated: A Florida mom who tried to ban an Amanda Gorman poem had also promoted the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. She apologized.
Israelis protest against the government’s planned judicial overhaul, outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, March 27, 2023. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)
A seismic fight erupts in Israel over the judicial system
Before October, if you asked what the most important Israeli news story of 2023 was, this was the answer, hands down. At the beginning of the year, Israel’s brand-new, hardline right-wing government unveiled a plan to sap the Supreme Court of its power and independence, a plan proponents said would enable the government to enact the agenda of its conservative voters.
The plan sparked an unprecedented protest movement — drawing hundreds of thousands of protesters into the street who condemned the overhaul as a danger to Israeli democracy. What followed was civil unrest, mass threats by reservists to abstain from military service, a raft of warnings and criticism from world leaders and Diaspora Jewish groups alike, and fruitless negotiations between Israel’s sparring political parties.
In July, the government pushed through one piece of the plan, limiting the Supreme Court’s ability to strike down government decisions. That led to a fresh wave of protests, and anticipation across the country and beyond regarding what else the government would legislate. Lawmakers were set to reconvene after the Jewish holidays ended with Simchat Torah — which fell on Oct. 7.
The Joseph Weis federal courthouse in Pittsburgh, June 27, 2023. (Ron Kampeas)
The Pittsburgh synagogue shooter is tried and sentenced to death
In 2018, a violent attack on Jews shocked the country and the world. In the spring of 2023, the man who killed 11 Jews at prayer in a Pittsburgh synagogue stood trial, was convicted and sentenced to death.
The shooter’s guilt was never in question; his lawyer admitted as much. But the course of the trial revealed gruesome details about the attack and — for jurors and others — served as a primer of sorts on American Jews and how they see their place in the United States. And in Squirrel Hill, the historically Jewish neighborhood where the shooting occurred, residents contended with fears of retraumatization and leaned on each other to heal.
The shooter’s lawyers did fight hard to spare him the death penalty. Families of victims and survivors also disagreed over the punishment. But following a months-long trial, the jury handed down a death sentence in August.
Under Elon Musk, the social media platform X has been at the center of several antisemitism-related controversies. (Ludovic Marin/Pool/AFP via Getty Images/Design by Mollie Suss)
Elon Musk’s handling of hate speech on Twitter/X raises alarms
Elon Musk, the billionaire tech mogul, bought Twitter in 2022. And over the course of 2023, his shifting approach to hate speech, including the removal of some of the platform’s guardrails, alternately enraged, concerned and confounded Jewish watchdogs and others.
As the year progressed, Musk’s personal pronouncements about Jews began to draw criticism. In May, he posted that George Soros, the liberal megadonor and frequent target of antisemitism, “hates humanity.” He later turned his sights on the Anti-Defamation League, threatening to sue it for billions of dollars and blaming it for rising antisemitism.
This particular story has continued post-Oct. 7. Musk has taken steps to combat anti-Israel rhetoric on the platform, now called X. He visited Israel and toured sites of the massacre. But he also amplified an endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory, leading major advertisers to stop their spending on the platform.
Micaela Diamond and Ben Platt during the opening night curtain call for “Parade” at New York City Center, Nov. 1, 2022. (Bruce Glikas/WireImage/GettyImages)
A trio of antisemitism-themed shows run on Broadway
For a few days this year, Broadway fans keen on seeing antisemitism portrayed on stage could go to three shows on the topic.
The musical “Parade,” about the 1915 lynching of Leo Frank, opened in March. The play “Leopoldstadt,” a semi-autobiographical work by Tom Stoppard about his Jewish family in Vienna in the years surrounding the Holocaust, opened in October 2022 and ran through July. And “Just for Us,” a one-man show by Jewish comedian Alex Edelman about the time he attended a meeting of white supremacists, opened in June.
All three received positive reviews, and “Leopoldstadt” and “Parade” won a total of six Tonys in June. And “Parade” wasn’t immune from antisemitism: Neo-Nazis protested at its previews.
Christie’s international head of jewelry Rahul Kadakia presents an item from the collection of Heidi Horten ahead of auction in Geneva, Switzerland, May 8, 2023. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
Christie’s faces blowback for auctioning jewelry with Nazi ties
Christie’s, the auction house, achieved a record sale when it put a jewelry collection belonging to Austrian art collector Heidi Horten on the block. But the auction house also faced a wave of blowback from critics who said it obscured the source of the wealth that purchased the jewelry: Helmut Horten, Heidi’s husband and a Nazi Party member who made his fortune from businesses seized from their Jewish owners.
Christie’s pledged to donate a portion of the proceeds to Holocaust research and education, but organizations and institutions devoted to Holocaust memory castigated the auction house, and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art called off an event about art restitution that had been organized by Christie’s. In August, Christie’s canceled a planned second auction of the jewelry.
Bradley Cooper is shown as Leonard Bernstein in the trailer for Netflix’s “Maestro.” (Screenshot from YouTube)
‘Maestro,’ the Leonard Bernstein biopic, reignites a debate over ‘Jewface’
Controversy over the prosthetic nose Bradley Cooper wore in his biopic about composer Leonard Bernstein began last year, when promotional shots of the movie circulated. But the debate ramped up this year when the first trailer for “Maestro” hit screens ahead of its December premiere.
Was it antisemitic for a non-Jew to put on an elongated nose for a Jewish role? Should non-Jews play Jewish characters at all — a practice some call “Jewface?” Those questions sparked numerous takes online and beyond, but petered out after the ADL and Bernstein’s family said they had no objections to the movie, which began streaming on Netflix this week. The makeup artist of “Maestro” apologized anyway.
Jewish institutions have faced bomb threats delivered remotely, through email and online contact forms. (Flickr Commons)
Synagogues face a string of fake bomb threats
Before reports of rising antisemitism began to dominate the headlines, synagogues across the United States were hit with dozens of bomb threats. All of them were fake, seemingly designed to provoke a police response. Some of the perpetrators targeted synagogues that live streamed their services, such that the congregation could be seen on screen fleeing their pews.
This is not the first time waves of fake bomb threats have hit Jewish institutions, and suspects have been arrested for the incidents, but they have continued throughout the year. One weekend in December, hundreds of synagogues across the country got false bomb threats.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) poses prior to a working lunch with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Presidential Palace, June 16, 2023. (Chesnot/Getty Images)
Israel and Saudi Arabia move toward a treaty
One major news story from this year that is now in limbo: prospects for a diplomatic accord between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Before Oct. 7, the Biden administration was pushing for the two countries to normalize relations — a step that would signify significant warming between Israel and the Arab world and that would transform regional relations in the Middle East. It would be a major coup for Israel, which had already established ties with four other Arab nations in recent years.
There appeared to be progress toward a treaty, and the outlines of a deal had been proposed. But what will happen next on that front is unclear: After Oct. 7, Saudi Arabia put the talks on hold.
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The post 9 stories that defined our Jewish year in 2023 before Oct. 7 appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Sen. Rick Scott Donates Salary to US Holocaust Memorial Museum
US Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, Dec. 7, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
US Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) announced on Wednesday that he will donate a portion of his Senate salary to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, underscoring what he called the urgent need to combat antisemitism at home and abroad as threats to Jewish communities escalate.
Scott, who has given part of his congressional salary since joining the Senate in 2019, said his gift was motivated by the growing dangers facing Jewish people and the importance of ensuring younger generations understand the Holocaust.
“Ann and I are proud to support the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Years ago, Ann and I brought our daughters to the Auschwitz memorial and museum in Poland because it was so important to us that they learned about the Holocaust and understood the horrors that occurred,” he said in a statement.
“It’s so important that every generation understands the atrocities of the Holocaust, and the museum does an incredible job teaching those lessons to millions of people every year. By sharing the stories of those who survived and those who were murdered, providing critical resources to educators, and reminding each of us what it means when we say ‘Never Again,’ it is a vital institution,” he added.
Scott also recounted taking his daughters years ago to Auschwitz in Poland, describing the visit as an effort to show them the catastrophic consequences of unchecked hatred against Jews.
The senator tied his donation to the approaching second anniversary of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel, the deadliest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Palestinian terrorists killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages during the onslaught.
“As we approach the second anniversary of Oct. 7, Ann and I are proud to support the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s meaningful work defending the truth of the Holocaust and their important efforts to teach its relevance for today,” Scott said.
Scott’s office did not disclose the specific amount of the donation.
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Texas State University Silent on Status of Professor Who Incited Violent Attack on Jews at Public Library
West Asheville Library in North Carolina. Photo: Screenshot/buncombecounty.org.
Texas State University is refusing to disclose whether it still currently employs a far-left professor who was filmed inciting a riotous assault on three pro-Israel individuals who peacefully spectated an anti-Israel presentation that was held in June 2024 at the West Asheville Library in North Carolina.
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, two of the victims, David Moritz and Monica Buckley, are Jewish, and one is cancer patient Bob Campbell, an 80-year-old military veteran. Their assailants kicked, punched, and dragged them out of the event, titled “Strategic Lessons From the Palestinian Resistance,” after Texas State University assistant professor of philosophy Idris Atsu Robinson spotted them in the audience and invited the 60-80 anti-Israel partisans in attendance to decide their fates.
At one point during harrowing footage taken of the incident, Robinson suggested that the encounter could lead to “murder.” At no point did he deescalate the situation and even seemed to find humor in igniting the passions of a mob.
Responding to an Algemeiner inquiry on Thursday, a Texas State media relations official declined to comment on Robinson’s employment status, saying the university “does not discuss personnel matters.”
The university has been asked before to account for its handling of Robinson.
In June, the StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department, a pro-Israel nonprofit that seeks to combat antisemitism, notified the school of Robinson’s conduct and rhetoric. According to StandWithUs, “university sources” confirmed that he will not be teaching during the fall semester of the 2025-2026 academic year. However, the university would not comment on the matter “due to the confidential nature of personnel matters,” making it unclear whether Robinson is still employed by Texas State and will teach there in the future.
StandWithUs says Texas State should state Robinson’s employment status, share findings amassed during an internal investigation of him, and produce any previous complaints which accused him of wrongdoing.
“It is critical that universities protect Jewish and Zionist students by refusing to provide a classroom platform to faculty members unlawfully promoting antisemitic hate and violence,” Michael Scheinman, Saidoff Legal Department assistant director of campus and community affairs, told The Algemeiner on Wednesday. “Schools that do not act and fail to implement strong safeguards risk exposing their students to the same hatred and violence suffered by the victims of this attack.”
He added, “StandWithUS Saidoff Legal continues to support the victims of this horrendous hate incident by coordinating with law enforcement, helping to identify masked perpetrators, and urging Texas State University to condemn the antisemitic conduct that contributed to this violence.”
By his own words, Robinson took immense pride in what transpired in Asheville, North Carolina last year. Commenting on the matter the next day while being interviewed on a podcast produced by the organizers of the event, he argued for “popular riots” and “divine violence,” saying explicitly that “terrorists” reserve the right to “take the life of the oppressor.”
“My arms are chewed up,” Campbell, a Navy veteran, told The Algemeiner during an interview which followed the assault. He added that medical staff at a local US Veterans Affairs facility identified “severe contusions” on his body.
“What really upset me — I was [lying] on the floor, and this big guy was on top of me,” Campbell recalled. “The librarian came to the door, looked me right in the eye, turned around and walked back and didn’t do a damn thing. Didn’t call the police.”
The activists proved equally merciless to the other victims, putting Moritz in a headlock and heaving Buckley outside and ordering her not to free herself from their grip.
Expressions of anti-Zionism are escalating to violence more frequently, as previously reported by The Algemeiner.
Earlier this month, Eden Deckerhoff — a female student at Florida State University (FSU) — allegedly assaulted a Jewish male classmate at the Leach Student Recreation Center after noticing his wearing apparel issued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“F—k Israel, Free Palestine. Put it [the video] on Barstool FSU. I really don’t give a f—k,” the woman said before shoving the man, according to video taken by the victim. “You’re an ignorant son of a b—h.” Deckerhoff has since been charged with misdemeanor battery.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, Deckerhoff has denied assaulting the student when questioned by investigators, telling them, “No I did not shove him at all; I never put my hands on him.” However, law enforcement charged her with misdemeanor battery and described the incident in court documents as seen in viral footage of the incident, acknowledging that Deckerhoff “appears to touch [the man’s] left shoulder.” Despite her denial, the Democrat noted, she has offered to apologize.
In June, a gunman murdered two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, while they exited an event at the Capital Jewish Museum hosted by a major Jewish organization. The suspect charged for the double murder, 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, yelled “Free Palestine” while being arrested by police after the shooting, according to video of the incident. The FBI affidavit supporting the criminal charges against Rodriguez stated that he told law enforcement he “did it for Gaza.”
Less than two weeks later, a man firebombed a crowd of people who were participating in a demonstration to raise awareness of the Israeli hostages who remain imprisoned by Hamas in Gaza. A victim of the attack, Karen Diamond, 82, later died, having sustained severe, fatal injuries.
Another antisemitic incident motivated by anti-Zionism occurred in San Francisco, where an assailant identified by law enforcement as Juan Diaz-Rivas and others allegedly beat up a Jewish victim in the middle of the night. Diaz-Rivas and his friends approached the victim while shouting “F—k the Jews, Free Palestine,” according to local prosecutors.
“[O]ne of them punched the victim, who fell to the ground, hit his head and lost consciousness,” the San Francisco district attorney’s office said in a statement. “Allegedly, Mr. Diaz-Rivas and others in the group continued to punch and kick the victim while he was down. A worker at a nearby business heard the altercation and antisemitic language and attempted to intervene. While trying to help the victim, he was kicked and punched.”
According to the latest data released by the FBI, antisemitic hate crimes in the US have been tallying to break all previous statistical records. In 2024, even as hate crimes decreased overall, those perpetrated against Jews increased by 5.8 percent in 2024 to 1,938, the largest total recorded in over 30 years of the FBI’s counting them. Jewish American groups have noted that this surge, which included 178 assaults, is being experienced by a demographic group which constitutes just 2 percent of the US population.
A striking 69 percent of all religion-based hate crimes that were reported to the FBI in 2024 targeted Jews, with 2,041 out of 2,942 total such incidents being antisemitic in nature. Muslims were targeted the next highest amount as the victims of 256 offenses, or about 9 percent of the total.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Europeans Launch UN Sanctions Process Against Iran, Drawing Tehran’s Ire
Satellite image shows buildings at Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center, before Israel launched an attack on Iran targeting nuclear facilities, in Isfahan, Iran, May 17, 2025. Photo: Planet Labs PBC via REUTERS
Britain, France, and Germany on Thursday launched a 30-day process to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear program, a step likely to stoke tensions two months after Israel and the United States bombed Iran.
A senior Iranian official quickly accused the three European powers of harming diplomacy and vowed that Tehran would not bow to pressure over the move by the E3 to launch the so-called “snapback mechanism.”
The three powers feared they would otherwise lose the prerogative in mid-October to restore sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under a 2015 nuclear accord with world powers.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the decision did not signal the end of diplomacy. His German counterpart Johann Wadephul urged Iran to now fully cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog agency and commit to direct talks with the United States over the next month.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters the decision was “illegal and regrettable” but left the door open for engagement.
“The move is an action against diplomacy, not a chance for it. Diplomacy with Europe will continue,” the official said, adding: “Iran will not concede under pressure.”
The UN Security Council is due to meet behind closed doors on Friday at the request of the E3 to discuss the snapback move against the Islamic Republic, diplomats said.
Iran and the E3 have held several rounds of talks since Israel and the US bombed its nuclear installations in mid-June, aiming to agree to defer the snapback mechanism. But the E3 deemed that talks in Geneva on Tuesday did not yield sufficient signals of readiness for a new deal from Iran.
The E3 acted on Thursday over accusations that Iran has violated the 2015 deal that aimed to prevent it developing a nuclear weapons capability in return for a lifting of international sanctions. The E3, along with Russia, China, and the United States, were party to that accord.
US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of that accord in 2018 during his first term, calling the deal one-sided in Iran‘s favor, and it unraveled in ensuing years as Iran abandoned limits set on its enrichment of uranium.
Trump’s second administration held fruitless indirect negotiations earlier this year with Tehran.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the E3 move and said Washington remained available for direct engagement with Iran “in furtherance of a peaceful, enduring resolution to the Iran nuclear issue.”
An Iranian source said Tehran would do so only “if Washington guarantees there will be no [military] strikes during the talks.”
The E3 said they hoped Iran would engage by the end of September to allay concerns about its nuclear agenda sufficiently for them to defer concrete action.
“The E3 are committed to using every diplomatic tool available to ensure Iran never develops a nuclear weapon,” including the snapback mechanism, they said in a letter sent to the UN Security Council and seen by Reuters.
“The E3’s commitment to a diplomatic solution nonetheless remains steadfast.”
Iran has previously warned of a “harsh response” if sanctions are reinstated, and the Iranian official said it was reviewing its options, including withdrawing from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The E3 had offered to extend the snapback for as much as six months to enable serious negotiations if Iran restored access for UN nuclear inspectors – who would also seek to account for Iran‘s large stock of enriched uranium whose status has been unknown since the June war – and engages in talks with the U.S.
Calling the E3 decision inevitable, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said it was an “important step in the diplomatic campaign to counter the Iranian regime’s nuclear ambitions.”
GROWING FRUSTRATION IN IRAN
The UN process takes 30 days before sanctions that would hit Iran‘s financial, banking, hydrocarbons, and defense sectors are restored.
Russia and China, strategic partners of Iran, finalized a draft Security Council resolution on Thursday that would extend the 2015 nuclear deal for six months and urge all parties to immediately resume negotiations.
But they have not yet asked for a vote.
“The world is at crossroads,” Russia’s deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told reporters. “One option is peace, diplomacy, goodwill … Another option is a kind of diplomacy at the barrel of the gun.”
The specter of renewed sanctions is stirring frustration in Iran, where economic anxiety is rising and political divisions are deepening, three insiders close to the government said.
Iranian leaders are split over how to respond — with anti-Western hardliners urging defiance and confrontation, while moderates advocate diplomacy.
Iran has been enriching uranium to up to 60 percent fissile purity, a short step from the roughly 90 percent of bomb-grade, and had enough material enriched to that level, if refined further, for six nuclear weapons, before the airstrikes by Israel started on June 13, according to the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog.
Actually manufacturing a weapon would take more time, however, and the IAEA has said that while it cannot guarantee Tehran‘s nuclear program is entirely peaceful, it has no credible indication of a coordinated weapons project.
The West says the advancement of Iran‘s nuclear program goes beyond civilian needs, while Tehran says it wants nuclear energy only for peaceful purposes.