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ADL, AJC join Orthodox groups in Supreme Court case on supporting religious protections in the workplace
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Two leading Jewish civil rights organizations are part of a coalition of groups asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold protections for religious observance in the workplace in a case that has already drawn support from Orthodox Jews.
The Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee each joined separate amicus briefs this week in Groff v. DeJoy, on behalf of an evangelical Christian postal worker whose case requesting to get Sundays off is under consideration by the court.
Orthodox groups have been backing Gerald Groff since last year, when he was endeavoring to get the Supreme Court to consider the case. The court took up his case in January.
The pairing of both secular groups with the Orthodox in a religious freedom case is rare — they have frequently been on opposite sides on church-state separation issues such as same-sex marriage or government funding for religious education — but the right of religious expression in the workplace has long been a unifying cause across the Jewish spectrum.
The litigant in this particular case wants Sundays off, but the AJC explained in a statement that in workplaces that refuse to grant a day off for religious observance, half of the adversely affected employees take Saturday as a day of rest, among them observant Jews.
“Contrary to established law, religious discrimination remans a feature of the American workplace,” the AJC’s statement said.
Groff is a Pennsylvania mailman who sought accommodations after the U.S. Postal Service started Sunday deliveries on behalf of Amazon in 2013. At first, Groff was able to work around Sunday deliveries, but as demand for the service grew, USPS disciplined him for declining Sunday shifts. He quit and sued. (Louis DeJoy, named in the case, is the postmaster general.)
A 1972 amendment to the 1964 Civil Rights Act guarantees freedom from discrimination based on religion, as long as employers would not face “undue hardship.” But Congress did not define that term.
Supporters of Groff see the case as a chance to overturn a key precedent established in Trans World Airlines v. Hardison, the 1977 Supreme Court decision that ruled for the airline over a member of a Christian sect who sought Saturdays off, rejecting three possible accommodations posited by a lower court as “undue hardships.” The possible accommodations involved allowing the employee a four-day work week; paying other employees overtime to fill his shift; or allowing the employee to leapfrog more senior employees in seeking Saturdays off.
Religious groups have long argued that the court’s rejection of those accommodations essentially made the 1972 amendment meaningless. Lower courts have ruled against Groff in this case, citing the 1977 Supreme Court decision.
The ADL said the case was a matter of fairness.
“People of faith will forever be unable to participate fully in society if they are forced to choose between their religion and earning a living,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.
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The post ADL, AJC join Orthodox groups in Supreme Court case on supporting religious protections in the workplace appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Lindsey Graham urges Israel not to strike Iranian oil depots even as he says he helped make war happen
(JTA) — Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has called on Israel to rein in its attacks on Iranian oil infrastructure, marking a rare note of caution from a Republican lawmaker who has said he helped push the United States to join Israel in waging war against Iran.
In a post on X on Sunday, Graham praised Israel for its role in the war before adding that “there will be a day soon that the Iranian people will be in charge of their own fate, not the murderous ayatollah’s regime.”
“In that regard, please be cautious about what targets you select,” continued Graham. “Our goal is to liberate the Iranian people in a fashion that does not cripple their chance to start a new and better life when this regime collapses. The oil economy of Iran will be essential to that endeavor.”
Graham’s post linked to an Axios article that reported that the United States was alarmed by Israeli strikes over the weekend that targeted 30 Iranian fuel depots. On Monday, U.S. gas prices rose to their highest levels since 2024.
The warning from Graham, an ally of President Donald Trump and staunch supporter of Israel, comes days after the Republican hawk told the Wall Street Journal that he had played a key role in urging Trump to strike Iran.
Prior to the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, Graham made several trips to Israel where he met with members of the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu whom he said he coached on how to lobby Trump to strike Iran.
“They’ll tell me things our own government won’t tell me,” Graham told the newspaper.
On Monday, Graham also directed his criticism at Saudi Arabia’s decision to stay on the sidelines of the campaign against Iran.
“It is my understanding the Kingdom refuses to use their capable military as a part of an effort to end the barbaric and terrorist Iranian regime who has terrorized the region and killed 7 Americans,” wrote Graham in a post on X Monday. “Question – why should America do a defense agreement with a country like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that is unwilling to join a fight of mutual interest?”
The post Lindsey Graham urges Israel not to strike Iranian oil depots even as he says he helped make war happen appeared first on The Forward.
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Belgian officials investigating synagogue explosion as possible act of terrorism
(JTA) — Belgian officials are investigating an explosion in front of a synagogue in Liège early Monday as a possible act of terrorism.
The explosion, which took place at 4 a.m., damaged the door of the historic neo-Romanesque synagogue and blew out the windows of multiple buildings across the street. No injuries were reported.
A range of Belgian politicians, including the prime minister and the mayor of Liège, characterized the explosion as act of antisemitism.
“Antisemitism is an attack on our values and our society, and we must fight it unequivocally,” Prime Minister Bart de Wever said in a statement. “We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community in Liege and across the country.”
The explosion comes amid a surge of concern about possible attacks by agents associated with the Iranian regime, against which the United States and Israel launched a war last week. Iran has a long record of supporting attacks on Jewish targets abroad, including two bombings in the 1990s in Argentina that killed more than 100 people at the Israeli embassy and a Jewish community center. Now, with Iran being pummeled at home, watchdogs are warning that it might lash out through its Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, responsible for attacks abroad.
Azerbaijan said Friday that it had foiled multiple terror attacks planned by Iranian agents on Jewish sites. In London, four men were arrested last week for allegedly spying on the Jewish community for Iran, with the intent of planning attacks against the community. And a string of shootings at synagogues in Toronto has ignited concern in Canada, too.
Iranian agents have taken aim at non-Jewish targets, too. On Friday, a Pakistani man who prosecutors said had been directed by Iran’s IRGC was convicted of plotting to assassinate President Donald Trump.
The attack in Liège, in the primarily French-speaking Wallonia province, comes amid a range of recent developments that have unsettled Belgian Jews, who number approximately 30,000. They include antisemitic carnival caricatures in the city of Aalst; a ban on ritual slaughter preventing the local production of kosher meat; and an ongoing row between U.S. and Belgian officials over Jewish circumcision practices. The attack also follows a 2014 shooting in which a gunman associated with the Islamic State, a rival to Iran’s Islamic Republic, shot four people to death at the Jewish Museum in Brussels.
A spokesperson for the Liège police described the effects to the area as “only material damage” to the 1899 building. Rabbi Joshua Nejman told local media that he was hoping that security footage would reveal the perpetrator.
“I’m going to try to calm my heart, because it is beating faster and faster this morning,” said Nejman, who said he had been at the synagogue for 25 years.
“Liege is home to a very small but vibrant Jewish community where I personally grew up,” Eitan Bergman, vice president of the Coordinating Committee of Jewish Organisations in Belgium, told Reuters. “Today, the feelings among our community members are a mixture of sadness, worry and profound shock.”
Liege’s mayor, Willy Demeyer, praised the synagogue community to RBTF, Belgium’s French-language national broadcaster. He added, “We cannot allow foreign conflicts to be imported into our city.”
The post Belgian officials investigating synagogue explosion as possible act of terrorism appeared first on The Forward.
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The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life, 2025
In honor of The Algemeiner‘s 12th annual gala, we are proud to present our “J100” list — 100 individuals who have positively influenced Jewish life over the past year.