A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, March 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

Microsoft Corporation denies Jews the right to form ethnic affinity groups despite maintaining a robust system of them for other identity categories, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law has alleged in a blistering letter urging the tech giant to correct what it says constitutes a flagrant violation of civil rights meriting legal action.

According to the letter, Microsoft employees may join Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) which correspond to “ethnic or racial identity” and foster “extra opportunities for professional development, career advancement, and the ability to collectively oppose discrimination in the workplace.” However, the company rules out Judaism as the basis for starting a Jewish ERG, nor does it recognize Jews, as does the US government, as an ancestral group. Thus, Jews at Microsoft are excluded from a form of social networking that can boost a career at the company to the highest levels of success, according the Brandeis Center.

“Providing all employees equal access to professional benefits and opportunities, including Microsoft’s Jewish employees, is the right thing to do and is compelled by various federal and local anti-discrimination statutes,” said Brandeis Center co-chair Kenneth Marcus, who served as assistant civil rights secretary in the US Education Department under former President George W. Bush. “This discrimination must stop.”

ERGs also act as advocacy groups which combat discrimination, the Brandeis Center argues in the letter, providing employees a peer group which shares “their lived workplace experiences.” Additionally, the groups facilitate “corporate charitable giving” to community organizations providing essential social services and “educational events.” The groups further receive copious funding from the Microsoft Corporation’s department of human resources, an indicator of upper management’s faith in their purported missions.

“Jewish Microsoft employees are only permitted to organize themselves as an ‘Employee Community,’ a structure vastly inferior to an ERG in multiple ways,” the letter states. “Employee Communities receive no funding and only limited support from Human Resources and are not allowed to host educational events, participate in inclusive product design programs, or fork with external groups outside of the annual Microsoft Give campaign.”

It continues, “Moreover, Microsoft’s insistence on defining Jewish identity inconsistent with its Jewish employees’ own self-definition has contributed to an environment that many Jews at Microsoft view as indifferent to antisemitism at best and antisemitically [sic] hostile at worst. Surely a Jewish ERG at Microsoft could have helped Microsoft avoid repeatedly failing to issue appropriate statements condemning rising antisemitism similar to its statements concerning other -isms, and failing to recognize important events in the Jewish calendar as Microsoft does for employees of other identities.”

On Wednesday, the author of the letter, Rory Lancman, who is the Brandeis Center’s senior counsel and director of corporate initiatives, implored Microsoft to accept that “Jewish employees have the same professional needs and aspirations as other ethnic minorities.”

He added, “Instead of dictating the terms of Jewish identity to its Jewish employees, Microsoft should listen to them and accept that to be Jewish is to be part of a people, not merely a faith … [They] can’t be denied those same opportunities to express themselves collectively about antisemitism, seek a better working environment, and achieve professional advancement.”

Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Jewish professionals are increasingly experiencing workplace discrimination, as previously reported by The Algemeiner.

Earlier this month, a New York area labor union was accused of enabling antisemitic discrimination in complaints filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), both US government agencies.

Submitted by the Brandeis Center, the complaints charge that the New York Legal Assistance Group’s (NYLAG) union — A Better NYLAG (ABN) — “actively obstructed” measures that would have reduced antisemitic activity at the nonprofit, which receives copious public funding from the local government. After nearly two years of alleged abuses and smear campaigns, the Brandeis Center said, Jewish NYLAG employees are seeking a legal remedy as a last resort to protect their rights and save an institution at risk of losing its reputation for fostering justice and equality before the law.

Antisemitism, allegedly, emerged at NYLAG and ABN following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, with employees using the workspace as a platform for endorsing the terrorist organization’s atrocities of rape and murder of the young and elderly. After, for example, NYLAG attempted to console Jewish employees by sending an email which acknowledged the severity of Hamas’s violence, ABN followed up by accusing Israel of “occupation and war crimes.” Such behavior continued in different forms at NYLAG, wholly endorsed by ABN, the Brandeis Center said.

At one point, a NYLAG employee allegedly distributed buttons which said, “Resisting colonialism is not terrorism.” Soon, pro-Hamas arts and crafts began appearing in NYLAG common spaces. “Respect existence or expect resistance,” said one homemade poster to which its creator clipped red and green butterflies. “Long live the resistance,” said another. Facing a deluge of complaints from outraged Jewish employees, NYLAG’s general counsel imposed a neutrality policy on the organization’s common spaces, forbidding partisan political expression that deviated from its purpose.

Rather than facilitating the policy’s success as an antidiscrimination measure, ABN, a chapter of United Autoworkers of America (UAW), accused the nonprofit of violating the “the National Labor Relations Act, which protects our right to protest unfair working conditions” and declared its intent to “file an unfair labor practice” charge against it. Avoiding a protracted legal fight with its own union, NYLAG never enforced the rule despite pleas from Jewish employees.

Meanwhile, antisemitism in academic medical centers located on college campuses is fostering noxious environments which deprive Jewish health-care professionals of their civil right to work in spaces free from discrimination and hate, according to a new study by the StandWithUs Data & Analytics Department.

Titled “Antisemitism in American Healthcare: The Role of Workplace Environment,” the study includes survey data showing that 62.8 percent of Jewish health-care professionals employed by campus-based medical centers reported experiencing antisemitism, a far higher rate than those working in private practice and community hospitals. Fueling the rise in hate, it added, were repeated failures of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives to educate workers about antisemitism, increasing, the report said, the likelihood of antisemitic activity.

“Academia today is increasingly cultivating an environment which is hostile to Jews, as well as members of other religious and ethnic groups,” StandWithUs director of data and analytics and study co-author Alexandra Fishman said in a statement. “Academic institutions should be upholding the integrity of scholarship, prioritizing civil discourse, rather than allowing bias or personal agendas to guide academic culture.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Microsoft Accused of Antisemitic Discrimination first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

US President Donald Trump (R) in the Oval of the White House in January 2025. Photo: Fortune via Reuters Connect

Over 200 Republican lawmakers in the US Congress have signed onto a letter urging President Donald Trump to remain committed to a hardline strategy toward Iran, calling on the White House to only agree to a deal that “dismantles” Iran’s nuclear program.

In a letter signed by 177 members of the House and 52 members of the Senate, the Republicans argued that the White House must avoid any agreement resembling the 2015 nuclear deal brokered by the administration of former President Barack Obama, which they claim merely delayed Iran’s nuclear ambitions while allowing the Islamist regime to quietly advance its program.

“We write to express our strong support for your efforts to secure a deal with Iran that dismantles its nuclear program, and to reinforce the explicit warnings that you and officials in your administration have issued that the regime must permanently give up any capacity for enrichment,” the letter stated.

The letter, led by Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), underscored the importance of dismantling the entirety of Iran’s uranium enrichment program. 

“The scope and breadth of Iran’s nuclear buildout have made it impossible to verify any new deal that allows Iran to continue enriching uranium,” the letter read. “The regime must give up any capacity for enrichment.”

“We cannot afford another agreement that enables Iran to play for time, as the JCPOA did,” the letter continued, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the official name for the 2015 nuclear accord. “The Iranian regime should know that the administration has congressional backing to ensure their ability to enrich uranium is permanently eliminated.”

The letter repudiated the former Biden administration for rescinding sanctions on Iran, saying that they “allowed Iran to reach the brink of nuclear breakout, which is where they are today.”

“The Biden administration made those concessions without any reciprocal concessions from Iran, and Iran even ceased providing international inspectors access to significant parts of its nuclear program in the early days of the Biden administration,” the letter stated.

Harsh US sanctions levied on Iran under the first Trump administration crippled the Iranian economy and led its foreign exchange reserves to plummet. Trump and his Republican supporters in the US Congress have criticized the Biden administration for renewing billions of dollars in US sanctions waivers, which had the effect of unlocking frozen funds and allowing the country to access previously inaccessible hard currency. Critics argue that Iran likely used these funds to provide resources for Hamas and Hezbollah to wage new terrorist campaigns against the Jewish state, including the brutal Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel perpetrated by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists.

The Trump administration has been engaged in negotiations with Iran in recent weeks to reach a deal over the Iranian nuclear program. On Thursday, Trump said that the US was getting very close to securing a deal and that Tehran had “sort of” agreed to the terms. However, Iranian officials reportedly said there were still gaps to bridge in the talks.

Trump on Tuesday denounced Iran as the “most destructive force” in the Middle East, accusing Tehran of fueling regional instability and vowing that Washington would never allow the country to acquire a nuclear weapon.

The administration has sent conflicting messages regarding its ongoing discussions with Iran, oscillating between demands for “complete dismantlement” of Tehran’s nuclear program and signaling support for allowing a limited degree of uranium enrichment.

Trump indicated last Wednesday during a radio interview that he is seeking to “blow up” Iran’s nuclear centrifuges “nicely” through an agreement with Tehran but is also prepared to do so “viciously” in an attack if necessary. That same day, however, when asked by a reporter in the White House whether his administration would allow Iran to maintain an enrichment program as long as it doesn’t enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels, Trump said his team had not decided. “We haven’t made that decision yet,” Trump said. “We will, but we haven’t made that decision.”

Republican lawmakers and hawkish foreign policy analysts have become increasingly skeptical and vocal in criticizing the Trump administration’s approach to the Iranian nuclear program, suggesting that the White House has received bad advice and is crafting a deal that might resemble the controversial 2015 accord, which imposed temporary limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanction relief. Trump withdrew the US from the deal and reimposed sanctions, arguing the agreement was bad for American national security.

The Israeli outlet Israel Hayom recently wrote that the Trump team has adopted a framework which “suggests that the Americans have, at least for now, abandoned several of the fundamental demands that were emphasized before negotiations began.” 

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who served as Trump’s top diplomat from 2018 to 2021, also questioned the utility of attempting to broker a nuclear deal with Iran “while it is at its weakest strategic point in decades” in a recent article for the Free Press. He appeared to be referring to Israel’s military activities in recent months decimating Iran’s air defenses and proxy forces — particularly Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon — in the Middle East. 

The White House has also received criticism from fellow Republicans in Congress. In a comment posted on X/Twitter, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), for example, lamented, “Anyone urging Trump to enter into another Obama Iran deal is giving the president terrible advice.”

Last week, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Tom Cotton (R-AK) unveiled a new resolution demanding Iran completely “dismantle” its nuclear program.

“Iran cannot get a nuclear weapon; that’s off the table,” Graham said during a press conference last Thursday.

Iran has claimed that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes rather than building weapons. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, reported last year that Iran had greatly accelerated uranium enrichment to close to weapons grade at its Fordow site dug into a mountain.

The UK, France, and Germany said in a statement at the time that there is no “credible civilian justification” for Iran’s recent nuclear activity, arguing it “gives Iran the capability to rapidly produce sufficient fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons.”

The post Over 200 Republican Lawmakers Urge Trump to ‘Dismantle’ Iran’s Nuclear Program Amid Negotiations first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Ada Karmi-Melamede sketching in a scene from “Ada – My Mother The Architect.” Photo: Provided

A documentary being released in theaters across the US profiles one of the most accomplished female architects in the world, and the impossible choices she was forced to make when it came to her career, country, and children.

“Ada — My Mother The Architect” is directed by Academy Award-winning producer Yael Melamede and tells the story of her mother, Israeli architect Ada Karmi-Melamede. The documentary gives a rare glimpse into the career and personal life of the very private but uber talented architect whose most famous designs include Jerusalem’s Supreme Court, Ben Gurion International Airport, the Open University in Ra’anana, Reichman University in Herzliya, and the Neot Hovav Museum and City Council in the Negev, among many other institutions.

Karmi-Melamede, a winner of the 2007 Israel Prize for Architecture, is described by others in the documentary as the “madam of Israeli architecture,” “a master, sculptor of light,” “a groundbreaking architect,” and “one of the most prolific and profound woman architects in the world today.” She was one of the few female students at the Architectural Association in London in the 1950s.

In the 1970s, Karmi-Melamede moved to New York from Israel, following her husband’s career. She spent nearly 15 years teaching at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture and was one of the few female faculty members at Columbia at the time. While teaching, she also contributed to major urban projects in New York, including a master plan for Con Edison, a study for the proposed Second Avenue Subway and a 1978 housing competition on Roosevelt Island. She did all that while raising three young children in New York.

In the early 1980s, after being denied tenure at Columbia, Karmi-Melamede returned to Israel to design the Supreme Court building. The project kept her in Israel for seven years, far away from her family, and as her career took off unexpectedly, she remained at a distance from her children and husband. “Ada – My Mother The Architect” expands on the decisions Karmi-Melamede made when it came to her career and motherhood, while highlighting the mother-daughter bond between the architect and her daughter behind the camera.

Karmi-Melamede’s father and brother were also architects. Melamede, the film’s director, was an architect before turning to a career in filmmaking.

“Ada is a particularly poignant figure for our time,” said the director about her mother. “She has spent the last four decades working in Israel, dedicated to a socially oriented architecture that reflects the values of the idealistic and socialist country she grew up with, while the values around her – professional and politically – have radically changed.”

“She became one of the most prolific female architects of her generation, yet almost nothing is known about her outside of Israel,” added the filmmaker, who co-founded the independent production company SALTY Features. “In the process, she navigated difficult personal choices and ignored the gendered norms of her time.”

Karmi-Melamede is in her 80s and has been working in the Jewish state since 1983, while her children continue to live outside of Israel. She also leads a firm of architects who are “decades her junior,” according to Melamede.

“She has spent her life thinking about architecture as a public good,” said the filmmaker. “But now, because of economic pressures, technological changes, and globalization, her dreams for placemaking make her deeply concerned about the profession’s future in Israel and around the world. Ada offers a unique model for practicing aspirational architecture and being an engaged and concerned citizen in a country she no longer recognizes.”

“The film began with questions about ‘place’ and ‘home.’ The Israeli story is often relegated to a binary lens, but the reality is far more complicated. As many of us are shaken by the fragility of the democracies we call home, Ada gives us ways to think about preserving despite the challenges.”

“Ada — My Mother The Architect” will be screened in select theaters in New York City; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Madison and Stanford, Connecticut; Dallas, Texas, at the Berkshire International Film Festival in Massachusetts; and the Winnipeg International Jewish Film Festival in Canada.

Watch the trailer below.



The post ‘Madam of Israeli Architecture’: Documentary on One of Most Prolific Female Architects to Be Released Across US first appeared on Algemeiner.com.