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Chuck Schumer, Doug Emhoff Reflect on Jewish American Experience, Antisemitism at Democratic National Convention
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) holds a press conference in the US Capitol in Washington, DC, April 23, 2024. Photo: Annabelle Gordon / CNP/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) reflected on their experiences as Jewish Americans and surging antisemitism across the US during the second night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Tuesday.
Schumer, the majority leader in the US Senate, discussed the existence of antisemitism in American society, reflecting on the impact that it could have on his grandchildren. The senator also took a swipe at Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump for supposedly perpetuating harmful stereotypes about the Jewish community.
“As the highest-ranking Jewish official in American history, I want my grandkids and all grandkids to never, never face discrimination because of who they are. But Donald Trump, this is a guy who peddles antisemitic stereotypes,” Schumer said at the DNC in Chicago. “He even invited a white supremacist to Mar-a-Lago. But unfortunately, his prejudice goes in all directions: he fuels Islamophobia, and issued a Muslim ban as president. Tonight folks, I am wearing this blue square, to stand up against antisemitism, to stand up to all hate.”
He continued, “Our children, our grandchildren — no matter their race or creed or gender or family — deserve better than Donald Trump’s American carnage.”
Schumer’s remarks came as the Democratic Party continued to face an onslaught of pressure from progressives to adopt a tougher posture toward the State of Israel. Protesters have lined the streets of Chicago during the DNC, demanding that the party secure a ceasefire in Gaza and enact an arms embargo against Israel.
Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in Congress, has adopted a more adversarial posture against Israel in the months following Oct. 7. In March, he called for new elections in the Jewish state to replace Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During Netanyahu’s address to Congress last month, Schumer refused to shake the Israeli premier’s hand, greeting him with a head nod instead.
Emhoff, the husband of Democratic presidential nominee and US Vice President Kamala Harris, praised his wife for encouraging him to speak out against antisemitism in his role as second gentleman during his DNC speech.
“Kamala has fought against antisemitism and all forms of hate her whole career,” said Emhoff, the first Jewish spouse of either a vice president or president. “She’s the one who encouraged me as second gentleman to take up that fight, which is so personal to me.”
The US has experienced a record surge in antisemitic incidents since Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
“I love being Jewish,” Emhoff said. “I love it. I love everything about it. I want to shout it from the mountaintops.”
Emhoff celebrated his interfaith marriage and “blended family,” claiming that Harris has played an integral role in helping him strengthen his Jewish faith.
“Kamala has connected me more deeply to my faith,” Emhoff said, “even though it’s not the same as hers.”
“She comes to synagogue with me for High Holidays, and I go to church with her for Easter,” he added.
Jewish and pro-Israel activists have expressed concern that Harris could be more hostile to Israel than Biden. She skipped Netanyahu’s congressional address and, after later meeting privately with the Israeli premier, held a press conference in which she vowed to “not be silent” about humanitarian conditions in Gaza. Harris also seemingly defended anti-Israel campus protesters in July, saying that the demonstrators are “showing what human emotion should be.”
The decision to spotlight Emhoff’s faith has been perceived by some observers as part of a calculated effort to lure Jewish voters into supporting Harris. Some pro-Israel voters have expressed concern that Harris would not be supportive of Israel, citing her lack of longstanding ties to the Jewish state and warm relationship with the left flank of the Democratic Party.
Some recent polls suggest that Jewish voters are set to flock to Republicans in historic numbers. Jewish voters prefer Harris over Trump, the Republican Party’s nominee, by a margin of 52.7 percent to 45.9 percent, according to a survey conducted by pollster Richard Baris.
Since 1968, American Jews have supported the Democratic presidential nominee over the Republican nominee on average by a staggering margin of 71 percent to 26 percent, according to Jewish Virtual Library. Jewish voters supported incumbent US President Joe Biden over Trump by a margin of 68 percent to 30 percent in 2020.
The post Chuck Schumer, Doug Emhoff Reflect on Jewish American Experience, Antisemitism at Democratic National Convention first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Warns Against Cooperation with US Relief Efforts In Bid to Restore Grip on Gaza

Hamas terrorists carry grenade launchers at the funeral of Marwan Issa, a senior Hamas deputy military commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike during the conflict between Israel and Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip, Feb. 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza has warned residents not to cooperate with the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, as the terror group seeks to reassert its grip on the enclave amid mounting international pressure to accept a US-brokered ceasefire.
“It is strictly forbidden to deal with, work for, or provide any form of assistance or cover to the American organization (GHF) or its local or foreign agents,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement Thursday.
“Legal action will be taken against anyone proven to be involved in cooperation with this organization, including the imposition of the maximum penalties stipulated in the applicable national laws,” the statement warns.
The GHF released a statement in response to Hamas’ warnings, saying the organization has delivered millions of meals “safely and without interference.”
“This statement from the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry confirms what we’ve known all along: Hamas is losing control,” the GHF said.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May, implementing a new aid delivery model aimed at preventing the diversion of supplies by Hamas, as Israel continues its defensive military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group.
The initiative has drawn criticism from the UN and international organizations, some of which have claimed that Jerusalem is causing starvation in the war-torn enclave.
Israel has vehemently denied such accusations, noting that, until its recently imposed blockade, it had provided significant humanitarian aid in the enclave throughout the war.
Israeli officials have also said much of the aid that flows into Gaza is stolen by Hamas, which uses it for terrorist operations and sells the rest at high prices to Gazan civilians.
According to their reports, the organization has delivered over 56 million meals to Palestinians in just one month.
Hamas’s latest threat comes amid growing international pressure to accept a US-backed ceasefire plan proposed by President Donald Trump, which sets a 60-day timeline to finalize the details leading to a full resolution of the conflict.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump announced that Israel has agreed to the “necessary conditions” to finalize a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, though Israel has not confirmed this claim.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with Trump next week in Washington, DC — his third visit in less than six months — as they work to finalize the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
Even though Trump hasn’t provided details on the proposed truce, he said Washington would “work with all parties to end the war” during the 60-day period.
“I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” he wrote in a social media post.
Since the start of the war, ceasefire talks between Jerusalem and Hamas have repeatedly failed to yield enduring results.
Israeli officials have previously said they will only agree to end the war if Hamas surrenders, disarms, and goes into exile — a demand the terror group has firmly rejected.
“I am telling you — there will be no Hamas,” Netanyahu said during a speech Wednesday.
For its part, Hamas has said it is willing to release the remaining 50 hostages — fewer than half of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war.
While the terrorist group said it is “ready and serious” to reach a deal that would end the war, it has yet to accept this latest proposal.
In a statement, the group said it aims to reach an agreement that “guarantees an end to the aggression, the withdrawal [of Israeli forces], and urgent relief for our people in the Gaza Strip.”
According to media reports, the proposed 60-day ceasefire would include a partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a surge in humanitarian aid, and the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, with US and mediator assurances on advancing talks to end the war — though it remains unclear how many hostages would be freed.
For Israel, the key to any deal is the release of most, if not all, hostages still held in Gaza, as well as the disarmament of Hamas, while the terror group is seeking assurances to end the war as it tries to reassert control over the war-torn enclave.
The post Hamas Warns Against Cooperation with US Relief Efforts In Bid to Restore Grip on Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UK Lawmakers Move to Designate Palestine Action as Terrorist Group Following RAF Vandalism Protest

Police block a street as pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather to protest British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s plans to proscribe the “Palestine Action” group in the coming weeks, in London, Britain, June 23, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
British lawmakers voted Wednesday to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, following the group’s recent vandalizing of two military aircraft at a Royal Air Force base in protest of the government’s support for Israel.
Last month, members of the UK-based anti-Israel group Palestine Action broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, a county west of London, and vandalized two Voyager aircraft used for military transport and refueling — the latest in a series of destructive acts carried out by the organization.
Palestine Action has regularly targeted British sites connected to Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems as well as other companies in Britain linked to Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza in 2023.
Under British law, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has the authority to ban an organization if it is believed to commit, promote, or otherwise be involved in acts of terrorism.
Passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 385 to 26 in the lower chamber — the House of Commons — the measure is now set to be reviewed by the upper chamber, the House of Lords, on Thursday.
If approved, the ban would take effect within days, making it a crime to belong to or support Palestine Action and placing the group on the same legal footing as Al Qaeda, Hamas, and the Islamic State under UK law.
Palestine Action, which claims that Britain is an “active participant” in the Gaza conflict due to its military support for Israel, condemned the ban as “an unhinged reaction” and announced plans to challenge it in court — similar to the legal challenges currently being mounted by Hamas.
Under the Terrorism Act 2000, belonging to a proscribed group is a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison or a fine, while wearing clothing or displaying items supporting such a group can lead to up to six months in prison and/or a fine of up to £5,000.
Palestine Action claimed responsibility for the recent attack, in which two of its activists sprayed red paint into the turbine engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft and used crowbars to inflict additional damage.
According to the group, the red paint — also sprayed across the runway — was meant to symbolize “Palestinian bloodshed.” A Palestine Liberation Organization flag was also left at the scene.
On Thursday, local authorities arrested four members of the group, aged between 22 and 35, who were charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited place knowingly for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the UK, as well as conspiracy to commit criminal damage.
Palestine Action said this latest attack was carried out as a protest against the planes’ role in supporting what the group called Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.
At the time of the attack, Cooper condemned the group’s actions, stating that their behavior had grown increasingly aggressive and resulted in millions of pounds in damages.
“The disgraceful attack on Brize Norton … is the latest in a long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action,” Cooper said in a written statement.
“The UK’s defense enterprise is vital to the nation’s national security and this government will not tolerate those that put that security at risk,” she continued.
The post UK Lawmakers Move to Designate Palestine Action as Terrorist Group Following RAF Vandalism Protest first appeared on Algemeiner.com.