Uncategorized
Ahead of conference, Jewish federations defend invitation to Benjamin Netanyahu — but sympathize with protesters
(JTA) — The umbrella group for Jewish federations defended its decision to invite Benjamin Netanyahu to its conference in Tel Aviv next week, while praising the protesters who want the Israeli prime minister to be snubbed.
The conference, called the General Assembly and beginning on Sunday night, has historically been the signature gathering of the American Jewish establishment. Last week, a group of expatriate Israelis who oppose Netanyahu’s proposed judicial overhaul called on the Jewish Federations of North America to withdraw his invitation to address the conference.
The protest group, UneXeptable, organizes demonstrations against the overhaul, which would sap the country’s Supreme Court of much of its power and independence. The protest group is also calling on the federations to uninvite lawmaker Simcha Rothman, one of the architects of the judicial legislation, which has been suspended until early May in the face of massive street protests.
But the federations stood by their decision. In addition to Netanyahu and Rothman, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid will address the conference. So will Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who has criticized the judicial overhaul push and is now leading negotiations to formulate a compromise on the legislation.
“Some have even called for the Jewish Federations of North America to withdraw their invitation. We respectfully disagree,” read the statement by Julie Platt, the federations’ chairwoman, and Eric Fingerhut, the CEO. “First and foremost, the opportunity to hear from Israel’s duly elected president and prime minister is a symbol of Israel’s achievement as a modern democratic state. We look forward to welcoming these officials on this historic occasion.”
The fact that the federations justified the invitations at all is itself remarkable. Israel’s leaders have historically been guests of honor at federation conferences, and reserving speaking slots for them has been a matter of course. A protest against Netanyahu at the federations’ General Assembly in 2010, by the pro-Palestinian group Jewish Voice for Peace, was shut down and ridiculed by federation leadership.
And the Tel Aviv gathering, coming just six months after the federations’ last General Assembly and expected to draw 3,000 attendees, is specifically intended to celebrate Israel’s milestone 75th birthday.
In its appeal to disinvite Netanyahu and Rothman, sent last week, UnXeptable noted the breadth of the proposed changes to the judiciary and warned that both officials would use the conference stage as a platform to defend the overhaul. Street protests have continued despite the negotiations.
“PM Netanyahu and MK Rothman should not be allowed to use the 2023 JFNA General Assembly as a platform to incite against those who defend democracy or in order to parade false unity and pseudo-shared values,” the UnXeptable letter said. “Our communal stage should not be used to legitimize or further advance the attacks on Israel’s democracy or on those fighting to defend it.”
Even as the federations’ statement defended the invitations — an earlier published draft vowed that “any individuals holding these positions” would be welcome at the event — it also praised the protesters’ aims and methods. The statement opened by acknowledging that the protesters “care deeply and sincerely about the future of Israel.”
The statement noted that the federations came out against a central component of the judicial overhaul, and that the group’s leadership traveled to Israel to lobby the government on the issue. And it assured protesters that, if they do show up to the event, the federations “will do everything we can to ensure that our attendees and security professionals respect these protesters, and expect that any protestors will respect our participants by demonstrating in a way that does not disrupt their ability to attend the event, participate, or listen to the speakers.”
“We have also been awed by the powerful statement Israel’s citizens have made exercising their democratic right to protest,” the statement said. “Given the immense importance of this debate and its implications for Jews all around the world, we understand that some will choose to exercise that right at the General Assembly.”
UnXeptable founder Offir Gutelzon, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, said he sympathized with the federations’ sense that it must welcome Israeli leaders, whatever their views, but he pleaded with the organization not to let Netanyahu speak unchallenged.
“I’m happy that the JFNA was responsive to our letter,” he said in an interview. “We are still asking the JFNA to consider, even if not disinviting — consider about making it a panel, making it with questions and answers, making sure that this is not just a one-way announcement by the prime minister.”
—
The post Ahead of conference, Jewish federations defend invitation to Benjamin Netanyahu — but sympathize with protesters appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
This politician refused to say ‘Happy Hanukkah,’ then blamed ‘political correctness’ for the backlash
An elected official in North Carolina who refused to say “Happy Hanukkah” during a board meeting later confirmed his position during an interview.
“I’m going to defend my right to say ‘Merry Christmas,’ and I’m not going to apologize for saying ‘Merry Christmas,’” Chris Chadwick, chairman of the Carteret County Board of Commissioners, said in a phone interview with the Forward.
Chadwick made the initial comment, first reported by Coastal Review, at a Monday meeting of the commission, which serves beachside towns along North Carolina’s Crystal Coast. The commission has seven members, all Republicans.
As Chadwick was wrapping up the commission meeting, he wished the group a Merry Christmas, and Commissioner Marianne Waldrop whispered, “We haven’t said ‘Happy Hanukkah.’”
“No, we don’t say that,” Chadwick replied, as Waldrop’s mouth fell agape.
Chadwick continued, “I want to wish everybody Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year —”
“And Happy Hanukkah,” Waldrop interjected, louder this time.
“— and we appreciate y’all coming,” Chadwick concluded.
“I was setting you up for success, not failure,” Waldrop said as the board adjourned.
Chadwick, elected in 2022, said Waldrop caught him off guard, and he didn’t appreciate her “trying to tell me what to say.” He said his comment reflected that he celebrates Christmas, not Hanukkah, in his family, but he meant “nothing derogatory to Jewish people or Hanukkah or anything like that.”
He added that “there’s so much political correctness out there now, it’s hard to keep on top of it. It was a simple ‘Merry Christmas,’ and it just got turned into something that it wasn’t.”
Chadwick said he understood why Jews might be sensitive to his comments after Sunday’s deadly attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, but he hadn’t heard about the terror attack at the time of Monday morning’s meeting.
Asked if he would include both holidays moving forward, Chadwick responded that he “could, but we don’t have many Jewish people here, so we’re just not used to doing it.”
An estimated 350 Jews lived in Carteret County in 2024, out of a total population of around 70,000.
Chadwick said he had spoken to a number of Jewish constituents about the incident who “understood completely” and taught him that Hanukkah lasts eight days.
But the remark did not sit well with Leonard Rogoff, president and historian of Jewish Heritage North Carolina.
“At a moment when Jews have been slaughtered in Australia for celebrating their holiday, when armed police guard synagogues here in North Carolina as Jews worship, for the county commissioner to refuse to acknowledge his Jewish neighbors and fellow citizens is not in keeping with the spirit of the holidays,” Rogoff told the Coastal Review. “How could Jews not take offense?”
Asked if he would do anything differently in retrospect, Chadwick said “looking back, she probably should have made her comments during her time, and let me make my comments.”
The post This politician refused to say ‘Happy Hanukkah,’ then blamed ‘political correctness’ for the backlash appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
Guinness World Records’ Exclusion of Israel Is ‘Deceptive,’ a Form of False Advertising, Advocacy Group Says
Guinness World Records Day 2025 at Elbtor Mobile in Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Marcus Brandt via Reuters Connect
Guinness World Records is guilty of false advertising for refusing to log the accomplishments of Israelis in its publications, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law has complained to the US Federal Trade Commission in a letter demanding that the agency use its authority to stop the allegedly mendacious practice.
GWR annually publishes a Guinness World Records book, commemorating a range of human achievements, from feats of scientific discovery to musical endeavors which yielded massive record sales. However, as previously reported by The Algemeiner, GWR suspended its processing of applications reporting new records achieved in Israel and the Palestinian territories in November 2023, shortly after the war in Gaza started following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.
“We are aware of just how sensitive this is at the moment,” GWR, published by the Jim Pattison Group, said in a statement issued earlier this month after the policy excluded an Israel charity’s being recognized for holding the single largest gathering of kidney donors in one place. “We truly do believe in record breaking for everyone, everywhere but unfortunately in the current climate we are not generally processing record applications from the Palestinian Territories or Israel, or where either is given as the attempt location, with the exception of those done in cooperation with a UN humanitarian aid relief agency.”
GWR’s explanation does not change the fact that it is excluding the world’s lone Jewish state from the world community over a war it did not start, the Brandeis Center said in Tuesday’s letter, arguing that, as such, Guinness World Records cannot literally claim to represent all of the world.
“They don’t have a right to deceive their readership and customer base by claiming that it is publishing ‘world records,’” Brandeis Center chairman and founder Kenneth Marcus said in a statement. “We have seen again and again that Israelis are capable of besting the competition and achieving international success. Any so-called ‘world record’ excluding such talented challengers must at a minimum carry an asterisk to disclose that it is not truly a record for the entire world.”
At the least, Marcus charged, GWR should issue refunds to customers, adding, “To the extent that GWR has been deceptively selling mislabeled products to the public, it should provide their money back.”
Notably, GWR accepts hundreds of applications annually from China, a country whose government has reportedly imprisoned more than a million Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority, in concentration camps. According to leaked documents from inside China, detainees in these camps have been subjected to rape, torture, forced labor, brainwashing, and forced sterilization. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum and the State Department under both the Trump and Biden administrations have assessed China is committing genocide against the Uyghurs.
Israel, by contrast, counts some 2 million Arab Muslims as full citizens in what is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.
Chinese residents perform square dance during an attempt to set a new Guinness World Record in Chongqing, China, Nov. 7, 2016. Photo: Oriental Image via Reuters Connect
GWR has also been accused of sending mixed signals about its organization’s purported political neutrality. Its website states that it is “determined to protect the integrity of our records by remaining politically neutral.” However, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, GWR “ceased” operations in Russia and Belarus, describing the decision as a “meaningful expression of our support and solidarity.”
It continued, “This means all current business, as well as all open conversations around future business relating to publishing, record consultancy and television productions. We are also exploring how we can prevent advertising across our digital platforms from these regions. We join calls for an end to fighting in Ukraine, and in any country or region where violence and fear preside over diplomacy or peace.”
At the same time, GWR welcomes many other countries in which “violence and fear preside over diplomacy or peace,” the Brandeis Center’s letter noted.
“GWR published the 2014 world record for longest talk show broadcast by a Damascus studio aligned with Bashar al-Assad,” the Brandeis Center said, quoting its letter to the FTC. “That record came not long after the Syrian dictator’s sarin gas attack on the nearby Ghouta suburb of Damascus. More recently, GWR featured an Iranian jump rope record achieved in February 2023 while the Islamic Republic was actively rounding up tens of thousands of participants in the Women, Life, Freedom protests.”
Days after GWR’s policy of excluding Israel received headlines this month, the nonprofit organization StandWithUs sent a letter to members of the Florida State Board of Administration calling on the state of Florida to investigate GWR over its ban on applications from Israel and to ensure that public funds do not support companies engaged in such a “discriminatory policy” against the Jewish state.
StandWithUs Saidoff Law, which carries out legal action for the pro-Israel group, requested that the board investigate GWR and its affiliate Guinness World Records North America regarding the “boycott policy” to see if they should be included on Florida’s official list of “Scrutinized Companies or Other Entities that Boycott Israel” in accordance with Florida law. Guinness World Records North America is registered in Florida as a foreign profit corporation.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
Uncategorized
NFL Player Vows to Do Touchdown Dance Invoking Antisemitic Trope
Puka Nacua during a livestream appearance. Photo: Screenshot
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua promised during a livestream appearance on Wednesday to do a dance following his next touchdown that includes an antisemitic trope.
The 24-year-old professional football player appeared in a livestream with online streamers Adin Ross and N3on. Aside from calling out NFL referees, Nacua learned a dance that Ross taught him. The moves included Ross spinning the football on the ground, flexing, and then leaning in while rubbing your hands together. Nacua performed the touchdown dance, following Ross’s request, and then the Rams player promised to perform it during a game.
Critics online have argued the moves in the dance promote antisemitic stereotypes about the Jewish community, noting the livestream took place mere days after 15 people were murdered in the deadly antisemitic attack against Jews celebrating the first night of Hanukkah in Sydney, Australia. Dozens of people were also wounded.
Puka Nacua will be doing Adin Ross’s ICONIC JEWISH DANCE for his next touchdown celebration
pic.twitter.com/W2dQL4kSMB
— AdinUpdate (@AdinUpdate) December 17, 2025
Nacua and the NFL have not publicly commented on the offensive touchdown dance. The Rams are playing on Thursday night against the Seattle Seahawks. If Nacua scores a touchdown, viewers will be waiting to see if he performs the antisemitic dance Ross taught him. The Provo, Utah, native, has been described as one of the best receivers in the league.