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After getting cut from ‘American Ninja Warrior,’ Orthodox contestant celebrates NBC’s decision to release unaired footage
(JTA) — When Michael Neuman found out his run on this season of the NBC obstacle course competition show “American Ninja Warrior” would not air, the competitor inside of him was crushed. Part of the filming schedule had conflicted with his Shabbat observance.
But Neuman was even more disappointed that he would not get to keep any footage from the show. Neuman, a 30-year-old psychotherapist from Miami Beach, had arranged to bring three young people from his Jewish Inspiration Foundation — which supports Jewish youth with physical challenges through sports — onto the show with him. Their parents were counting on keeping the footage of their family members on the obstacle course sidelines as a keepsake of a bright moment in their lives.
Now, just over two weeks after a Jewish Telegraphic Agency article about their story, the show has given Neuman and the families he brought on set a 47-second montage clip from Neuman’s time on the show. In an email reviewed by JTA, a producer alluded to the article and commended Neuman for his foundation’s work.
“I’m so appreciative to ‘American Ninja Warrior’ for releasing the clip to us,” Neuman told JTA. “I think it means a lot more than just a clip from the show. It means people care, and we are all in this together as humans.”
He added that having the video “means the world” to the families. “It’s so impactful and so inspiring that [the show] would do something so generous,” he said.
Here is the clip from “American Ninja Warrior”:
Neuman’s cohort of young adults was put up in a five-star hotel at Universal Studios, served kosher food and participated in promotional filming for the show. When Neuman competed in the show’s obstacle course — a run that would initially earn him a spot in the semifinals — they cheered him on from the sidelines.
Neuman, an Orthodox Jew, ultimately forfeited his spot in the semifinals because filming for the episode fell on Shabbat. As a result, he was later cut entirely from the show, along with the footage of his fan section.
Leah Cohen, who traveled to Los Angeles with her son Ari, who has the rare chromosomal disorder mosaic trisomy 9, appealed to one of the show’s producers to share the footage with the foundation.
“I said, ‘Listen, you guys made a decision not to air [Michael]. I don’t know why you did that. But that’s your thing,’” Cohen recounted to JTA. “‘But at least share those pictures with us. I can’t fathom that that’s out there and one day when my son, God forbid, is not here, to know that those pictures and those videos are out there, and I won’t be able to have any comfort in looking at them and seeing them and being proud of them.’”
Sam Bullard, a supervising producer for “American Ninja Warrior,” told JTA last month that Neuman was “cut for time” and that it’s “standard practice” to remove contestants in post-production. He said NBC would not release the footage.
Cohen said she was “shocked” to hear that NBC had changed its mind.
“What I saw brought me back to one of the happiest moments of my life,” she said about the video. “It’s showing the world that there are people who care about you and who are exhibiting kindness.”
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The post After getting cut from ‘American Ninja Warrior,’ Orthodox contestant celebrates NBC’s decision to release unaired footage appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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University of California, Santa Barbara Accused of Ignoring Antisemitic Bullying of Student
University of California, Santa Barbara student body president Tessa Veksler on Feb. 26, 2024. Photo: Instagram
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) has been accused of responding inadequately to the antisemitic harassment of its Jewish student government president, Tessa Veksler, and thus violating Title VI of the US Civil Rights Act, The Algemeiner has learned.
According to a civil rights complaint filed with the US Department of Education by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, Veksler was endlessly bullied at UCSB after Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7. Anti-Zionists there allegedly sent her threatening messages, called her a “Ziofascist,” and slashed pictures of her displayed around the campus.
In February, her bullies escalated their scare tactics, graffitiing over a dozen messages at the school’s Multicultural Center which called her a “neutral ass b—ch” and said “resistance is justified,” “you can run but you can’t hide Tessa Veksler,” and “get these Zionists out of office.” Additionally, someone graffitied “Zionist not welcome” on a door, just inches away from a mezuzah, a small parchment scroll containing Hebrew verses from the Torah that members of the Jewish community fix to their doorposts
Later, a faction of anti-Zionists in the student government attempted to remove Veksler from office.
The Brandeis Center alleges that UCSB did not address the problem in a way that is consistent with its obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which requires universities to implement robust measures that stop discriminatory behavior and prevent its recurrence.
“The harassment started online, and the university didn’t do anything to intervene despite Ms. Veksler’s pleading with them to intervene due to the negative effects on her mental health and the undermining of her ability to lead the student body,” Denise Katz-Prober, director of legal initiatives at the Brandies Center, told The Algemeiner during an interview on Friday. “The harassment only intensified and continued, moving to the physical campus.”
Katz-Prober continued, “We’d like to see the university acknowledge, recognize, and condemn the anti-Zionist form of antisemitism that motivated the harassment which targeted Ms. Veksler on the basis of her Jewish identity. A statement they issued condemning ‘all forms of hate’ is just not enough given the antisemitism students are enduring in our time.”
Veksler is a senior political science major who was elected in April 2023 as president of UCSB Associated Students (AS), making history by becoming the school’s first ever Shabbat-observant student body president. At the time, Veksler told The Algemeiner that becoming president was always her “far-distant” goal. Since then, she has become one of the most recognized leaders of the pro-Zionist student movement, traveling to colleges across the country to speak to other students about the centrality of Zionism to Jewish identity and the importance of resisting antisemitism.
On Friday she told The Algemeiner that the discrimination she endured derailed her presidency.
“The incidents of the past seven months were designed to make my life miserable,” she said. “They called me a ‘genocide supporter,’ ‘a baby killer,’ and pushed libel claims. So much of it was based on information that is completely untrue. People accused me of doxxing students, although I never did, and that’s something that people continue to hang on to. People have even commented on my complaint, saying it’s ridiculous that a white person is pursuing a civil rights case.”
She continued, “They don’t want to recognize Jews as a minority group that can experience hate, but if you look at any of the things that people said to me online, calling me a ‘Ziofascist’ and a ‘Nazi,’ it’s obvious that my identity makes me a walking target.”
College campuses across the West have become hubs of antisemitism since the Oct. 7 attacks. Both students and faculty have demonized Israel and rationalized Hamas’ terror onslaught, and incidents of harassment and even violence against Jewish students have increased. As a result, Jewish students, who in at least one instance were threatened with rape and mass murder, have reported feeling unsafe and unprotected.
Earlier this year, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) measured the rise of antisemitism on college campuses, finding a 321 percent increase in antisemitic incidents.
“What has been allowed to happen to Tessa over many months — shaming, harassing, and shunning a student until they disavow a part of their Judaism — is shameful and illegal,” Brandeis Center chairman and former US assistant education secretary Kenneth Marcus said on Thursday. “Sadly, this is not the first time we are seeing this mob behavior against a Jewish student elected by their student body to serve. It is incumbent upon UC Santa Barbara and all universities to say ‘enough is enough.’”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post University of California, Santa Barbara Accused of Ignoring Antisemitic Bullying of Student first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Tourist Attacked by Mob in Belgium, Suffers Broken Jaw
People take part in pro-Hamas protest in Brussels, Belgium, Nov. 11, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman
A 64-year-old Israel tourist was attacked by a mob in the Belgian city of Bruges and suffered a broken jaw after he and his daughter removed an anti-Israel sticker in a train station on Friday, according to the European Jewish Association and Israel’s Embassy in Belgium.
The assailants saw Amnon Ohana and his 29-year-old daughter Shira removing the sticker from a wall at a Bruges train station and proceeded to attack the father, punching and kicking him.
The Israeli tourists fled to a lower floor but were pursued by at least one of the attackers, who knocked Ohana to the ground and continued to strike him.
After the assailants left the scene, Ohana was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a broken jaw.
BREAKING
Belgium: Jewish father and his daughter attacked by a FreePalestine mob when they were discovered to be Israelis.
The mob beat up the father and continued kicking his head when he was down. pic.twitter.com/rs5Y1av4rN
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) May 17, 2024
According to several reports, passersby ignored the father and daughter’s pleas for help.
Ohana filed a complaint with local police against the assailants but reportedly said the authorities did not seem willing to prosecute them to the full extent of the law, despite the attack being filmed by his daughter and security cameras.
Israeli Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg Idit Rosenzweig-Abu decried the incident, calling attention to a spike in antisemitic incidents that has turned increasingly violent.
“A 64-year-old Israeli man was attacked while on a tourist visit in Bruges,” the ambassador wrote on X/Twitter. “He was kicked to the head and suffered a fracture to his jaw. What started as violent discourse has turned in past weeks to actual violence on the streets. We expect the authorities to denounce this violence in the strongest terms possible. And we expect the police to find and press charges against this man.”
A 64 year old Israeli man was attacked while on a tourist visit in @StadBrugge . He was kicked to the head and suffered a fracture to his jaw.
What started as violent discourse has turned in past weeks to actual violence on the streets.
We expect the authorities to denounce… pic.twitter.com/hlKMQb8K12
— Ambassador Idit Rosenzweig-Abu (@IditAbu) May 17, 2024
The Israeli Embassy in Belgium reportedly filed a complaint with the mayor of the city, calling on the attackers to be arrested.
The attack came amid a global surge in antisemitism following Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel and during the ensuing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Antisemitic incidents have reached record highs in several countries, especially in the US and Europe.
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, head of the European Jewish Association, condemned the assault and the rise in antisemitism, noting that the incidents have been escalating to full-scale violence against Jews and Israelis.
“It is no longer just verbal violence or spitting but real physical attacks that can end in disaster,” Margolin said, according to Israeli media reports. “Don’t wait for us to be murdered to understand that you must act more decisively against the troublemakers. Today it is against Jews and tomorrow the incited mob will attack anyone who looks Western in their eyes.”
Margolin then called on Belgium to prosecute the assailants to the fullest extent of the law.
“It cannot be that a Western country claiming to be a state of law like Belgium will not act for the immediate arrest of the antisemitic assailants and refrain from immediate enforcement to prosecute them to the full severity of the law,” he added.
The post Israeli Tourist Attacked by Mob in Belgium, Suffers Broken Jaw first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hundreds showed up to walk a Toronto boy to school after his family said he’s been facing antisemitic harassment from other kids
About 300 people came to a suburban Toronto neighbourhood on the morning of May 17 to support a child whose family says he has been the victim of ongoing antisemitic verbal and physical harassment at school. The family, fearing for the boy’s safety, asked for the community’s support to walk with him for the one […]
The post Hundreds showed up to walk a Toronto boy to school after his family said he’s been facing antisemitic harassment from other kids appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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