RSS
New York Times Illustrates Campaign Donation Story With Jewish Stars, Yarmulke
The New York Times building in New York City. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
“Who Are the Biggest Donors to Trump and Harris?” a New York Times headline asks, over an article about “the billionaires that are powering the campaigns.”
The first two donors mentioned in the article are Tim Mellon and Elon Musk. Neither one is Jewish. Also mentioned is Linda McMahon. She’s not Jewish either. The article further mentions Reid Hoffman, who describes himself as a “mystical atheist,” and Dick and Liz Uihlein, who aren’t Jewish, either.
So what in the world was the New York Times thinking when the newspaper chose to illustrate its story about “the most influential givers” with a photograph of six Israeli flags, former President Trump, Dr. Miriam Adelson, and an unidentified bearded man wearing a kippa?
Screenshot of headline and photo of New York Times article from Sept. 1, 2024 headlined ‘Who Are the Biggest Donors to Trump and Harris?’
Peter Dreier, a professor at Occidental College, wrote in a Facebook post that the photo selection was “egregious.”
Dreier wrote, “The Times story was not about religion or ethnicity. It was about the ‘biggest donors.’’By using that photo, the Times played into ugly antisemitic stereotypes. You’d think that some editor up the chain of command would have noticed this and replaced the photo. But there it is, in blue and white.”
At a moment when Columbia University’s Antisemitism Task Force is trying to educate students about “antisemitic tropes about Jewish wealth and hidden power,” for the Times to come out with a picture choice like this one is pretty clumsy.
The newspaper already ran a front-page profile of Adelson describing her as “rabidly partisan,” prompting a formal complaint to the paper from Eric Goldstein, the CEO of the UJA-Federation of New York, a longtime partner of the New York Times in its Neediest Cases Fund.
Goldstein also complained about a Times online headline that said US Rep. Jamaal Bowman had been “Overtaken by Flood of Pro-Israel Money,” which Goldstein said fed “a dreadful antisemitic stereotype.”
No one is saying the Times should not cover money in politics or even that the Times shouldn’t cover the pro-Israel lobby’s campaign contributions with the same level of energy that it devotes to coverage of other political interest groups. But to take a general overview of campaign finance and presidential politics and to package it, visually, with Israeli flags and a visibly observant Jew, is outrageous. It plays into harmful stereotypes. It also provides voters an inaccurate and skewed picture of the reality of the situation, which is that there’s also plenty of non-Jewish money flowing into the campaigns.
The Times highlights the donors giving tens of millions of dollars, or, in Mellon’s case, $100 million, to the Trump or Harris campaigns. But how might one estimate the financial value of putting the New York Times Company, with its market capitalization of more than $8 billion and its annual revenues of more than $2 billion, behind a campaign of hostility to Israel and against the Jewish people? The Times executive editor, Joseph Kahn, recently claimed credit for the Biden-Harris administration’s decision to cut off supplies to Israel of 2,000-pound bombs.
If donors back a presidential candidate to air campaign commercials, the funding is disclosed, and the donors are subjected to mockery by the Times. But when the Times management uses its newspaper to advance its political agenda, it gets far less scrutiny.
When the Intercept sought to depict the Times as biased towards Israel because of Kahn’s history, Kahn made a point of publicly clarifying, “I’m not an active Jew.” Active or inactive, he might want to check into who picked the photo for the presidential campaign donor story. And he might want to encourage the editors responsible to use better judgment the next time around.
Ira Stoll was managing editor of The Forward and North American editor of The Jerusalem Post. His media critique, a regular Algemeiner feature, can be found here.
The post New York Times Illustrates Campaign Donation Story With Jewish Stars, Yarmulke first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students
Haredi Jewish men look at the scene of an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem, Israel, on Nov. 23, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
Israel’s military said it would issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students following a Supreme Court ruling mandating their conscription and amid growing pressure from reservists stretched by extended deployments.
The Supreme Court ruling last year overturned a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox students, a policy established when the community comprised a far smaller segment of the population than the 13 percent it represents today.
Military service is compulsory for most Israeli Jews from the age of 18, lasting 24-32 months, with additional reserve duty in subsequent years. Members of Israel’s 21 percent Arab population are mostly exempt, though some do serve.
A statement by the military spokesperson confirmed the orders on Sunday just as local media reported legislative efforts by two ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to craft a compromise.
The exemption issue has grown more contentious as Israel’s armed forces in recent years have faced strains from simultaneous engagements with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and Iran.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders in Netanyahu’s brittle coalition have voiced concerns that integrating seminary students into military units alongside secular Israelis, including women, could jeopardize their religious identity.
The military statement promised to ensure conditions that respect the ultra-Orthodox way of life and to develop additional programs to support their integration into the military. It said the notices would go out this month.
The post Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticized on Sunday a cabinet decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a “grave mistake” that he said would benefit the terrorist group Hamas.
Smotrich also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to ensure that Israel’s military is following government directives in prosecuting the war against Hamas in Gaza. He said he was considering his “next steps” but stopped short of explicitly threatening to quit the coalition.
Smotrich’s comments come a day before Netanyahu is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.
“… the cabinet and the Prime Minister made a grave mistake yesterday in approving the entry of aid through a route that also benefits Hamas,” Smotrich said on X, arguing that the aid would ultimately reach the Islamist group and serve as “logistical support for the enemy during wartime”.
The Israeli government has not announced any changes to its aid policy in Gaza. Israeli media reported that the government had voted to allow additional aid to enter northern Gaza.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The military declined to comment.
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with conditions threatening to push nearly a half a million people into famine within months, according to U.N. estimates.
Israel in May partially lifted a nearly three-month blockade on aid. Two Israeli officials said on June 27 the government had temporarily stopped aid from entering north Gaza.
PRESSURE
Public pressure in Israel is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. An Israeli team left for Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
Smotrich, who in January threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionism party from the government if Israel agreed to a complete end to the war before having achieved its objectives, did not mention the ceasefire in his criticism of Netanyahu.
The right-wing coalition holds a slim parliamentary majority, although some opposition lawmakers have offered to support the government from collapsing if a ceasefire is agreed.
The post Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Aug. 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
Australian police have charged a man in connection with an alleged arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue with worshippers in the building, the latest in a series of incidents targeting the nation’s Jewish community.
There were no injuries to the 20 people inside the East Melbourne Synagogue, who fled from the fire on Friday night. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in the capital of Victoria state.
Australia has experienced several antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023.
Counter-terrorism detectives late on Saturday arrested the 34-year-old resident of Sydney, capital of neighboring New South Wales, charging him with offenses including criminal damage by fire, police said.
“The man allegedly poured a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and set it on fire before fleeing the scene,” police said in a statement.
The suspect, whom the authorities declined to identify, was remanded in custody after his case was heard at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Sunday and no application was made for bail, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.
Authorities are investigating whether the synagogue fire was linked to a disturbance on Friday night at an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne, in which one person was arrested for hindering police.
The restaurant was extensively damaged, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for Australia’s Jews.
It said the fire at the synagogue, one of Melbourne’s oldest, was set as those inside sat down to Sabbath dinner.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog went on X to “condemn outright the vile arson attack targeting Jews in Melbourne’s historic and oldest synagogue on the Sabbath, and on an Israeli restaurant where people had come to enjoy a meal together”.
“This is not the first such attack in Australia in recent months. But it must be the last,” Herzog said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incidents as “severe hate crimes” that he viewed “with utmost gravity.” “The State of Israel will continue to stand alongside the Australian Jewish community,” Netanyahu said on X.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese late on Saturday described the alleged arson, which comes seven months after another synagogue in Melbourne was targeted by arsonists, as shocking and said those responsible should face the law’s full force.
“My Government will provide all necessary support toward this effort,” Albanese posted on X.
Homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles in Australia have been targeted by antisemitic vandalism and arson. The incidents included a fake plan by organized crime to attack a Sydney synagogue using a caravan of explosives in order to divert police resources, police said in March.
The post Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue first appeared on Algemeiner.com.