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Biden Signs Bill Allowing Philadelphia Museum of American Jewish History to Join Smithsonian Institution
US President Joe Biden at the White House, Washington, DC, May 31, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
US President Joe Biden signed into law on Wednesday a bill that would make it possible for the nation’s only museum dedicated exclusively to the American Jewish experience to join the Smithsonian Institution, which would help support its existence for years to come.
Bill H.R. 7764 establishes a commission that will examine if the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia can join the Smithsonian Institution. The commission of eight people must submit a report with its findings to Congress and the president within two years of its first meeting. The bill was sponsored by Jewish US Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and introduced in March. It was passed by the House of Representatives in September and the Senate did the same earlier this month. Both votes were unanimous.
Before the bill was passed to Biden’s desk, Wasserman Schultz said in a Facebook post that signing it into law “would help reject harmful prejudices by educating people about the many contributions of Jewish Americans.”
The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, which includes 21 museums, 14 education and research centers, and the National Zoo. If the Weitzman museum, located on Independence Mall in Philadelphia, was to join the Smithsonian Institution, it would become one of the Smithsonian museums in the US dedicated to minority groups such as the African American History and Culture Museum, the American Indian Museum, and National Museum of Asian Art. Museums under the umbrella of the Smithsonian Institution also receive federal government support.
Established in 1976, the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History houses one of the largest collections of Jewish American artifacts in the nation, with more than 30,000 objects.
In early March 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 epidemic, the museum filed for bankruptcy because of a a $30 million debt, which stemmed largely from the $150 million construction of its five-story building. The museum settled its debt a year later after receiving a $10 million commitment by former museum trustee Mitchell Morgan, who agreed to buy the building for $10 million and charge the museum rent of just $1,000 a month. The museum also raised money from supporters to help pay off its debt and reportedly had several creditors agree to forgive $14 million in debt.
An eight-figure donation from Jewish footwear designer and entrepreneur Stuart Weitzman allowed the museum to buy the building back from Morgan, and “Weitzman” was added to the museum’s name in his honor.
The post Biden Signs Bill Allowing Philadelphia Museum of American Jewish History to Join Smithsonian Institution first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Kurdish-led SDF Say Five Members Killed During Attack by Islamic State in Syria
Islamic State slogans painted along the walls of the tunnel was used by Islamic State militants as an underground training camp in the hillside overlooking Mosul, Iraq, March 4, 2017. Photo: via Reuters Connect.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said on Sunday that five of its members had been killed during an attack by Islamic State militants on a checkpoint in eastern Syria’s Deir el-Zor on July 31.
The SDF was the main fighting force allied to the United States in Syria during fighting that defeated Islamic State in 2019 after the group declared a caliphate across swathes of Syria and Iraq.
The Islamic State has been trying to stage a comeback in the Middle East, the West and Asia. Deir el-Zor city was captured by Islamic State in 2014, but the Syrian army retook it in 2017.
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Armed Groups Attack Security Force Personnel in Syria’s Sweida, Killing One, State TV Reports
People ride a motorcycle past a burned-out military vehicle, following deadly clashes between Druze fighters, Sunni Bedouin tribes, and government forces, in Syria’s predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Armed groups attacked personnel from Syria’s internal security forces in Sweida, killing one member and wounding others, and fired shells at several villages in the violence-hit southern province, state-run Ekhbariya TV reported on Sunday.
The report cited a security source as saying the armed groups had violated the ceasefire agreed in the predominantly Druze region, where factional bloodshed killed hundreds of people last month.
Violence in Sweida erupted on July 13 between tribal fighters and Druze factions. Government forces were sent to quell the fighting, but the bloodshed worsened, and Israel carried out strikes on Syrian troops in the name of the Druze.
The Druze are a minority offshoot of Islam with followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Sweida province is predominantly Druze but is also home to Sunni tribes, and the communities have had long-standing tensions over land and other resources.
A US-brokered truce ended the fighting, which had raged in Sweida city and surrounding towns for nearly a week. Syria said it would investigate the clashes, setting up a committee to investigate the attacks.
The Sweida bloodshed last month was a major test for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, after a wave of sectarian violence in March that killed hundreds of Alawite citizens in the coastal region.
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Netanyahu Urges Red Cross to Aid Gaza Hostages
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he spoke with the International Red Cross’s regional head, Julien Lerisson, and requested his involvement in providing food and medical care to hostages held in Gaza.