Uncategorized
For the Republican Jews whose Vegas confab kicked off the 2024 primary, Trump was always present
LAS VEGAS (JTA) — For Republican Jews looking for an alternative to Donald Trump in 2024’s presidential race, Ted Cruz presented a tantalizing choice on Saturday — at least for a few minutes.
“When I arrived in the Senate 10 years ago, I set a goal to be the leading defender of Israel in the United States,” the Texas senator said during his chance to address the Republican Jewish Coalition conference last weekend.
The crowd packed into a ballroom deep in the gold lame reaches of the Venetian casino complex lapped it up in what some of them refer to as the “kosher cattle call,” auditions for some of the GOP’s biggest campaign donors.
Cruz applied his folksy bellow to phrases already rendered stale by the speakers who preceded him, making them seem fresh. “Nancy Pelosi is out of a job,” he said of the Democratic speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, eliciting more cheers from a crowd relishing a fragile majority in the House, one of few GOP wins during midterm elections earlier this month.
But the onetime constitutional lawyer lost the crowd when he asked everyone to take out their cell phones and text a number associated with his podcast, “Verdict.” As the murmurs graduated into grumbles it became clear: About a third of the 800 or so people in the room were Shabbat-observant Jews, taking texting off the table for them.
Cruz never really recovered his rapport with the audience, which included deep-pocketed donors looking to pick a candidate and rally support for him or her. That made his speech an extreme example of the trajectory of just about every address by prospective presidential hopefuls at the RJC conference — excitement tempered by two nagging questions: Does this candidate have what it takes to beat Trump, whose obsession with litigating the 2020 election helped fuel this year’s electoral losses? And is Trump inevitable whoever challenges him?
The former president was at the center of every presentation and of conversations in the corridors during breaks. On the stage, some folks named him, some did not, but — except for Trump himself during a video address from his Florida home — few did so enthusiastically.
Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor who was the first of Trump’s primary opponents in 2016 to drop out and endorse him, and then among the first to repudiate him during his presidency, repeated the admonition he made a year ago to move beyond Trump.
Say his name, Christie urged the crowd. “It is time to stop whispering,” he said. “It is time to stop doing the knowing nod, the ‘we can’t talk.’ It’s time to stop being afraid of any one person. It is time to stand up for the principles and the beliefs that we have founded this party on, this country on.” He got big cheers.
Trump was the first candidate to announce for 2024, last week, and so far the only one. But others among the half dozen or so likelys in Las Vegas were clearly signaling a run. Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations who is a star among right-wing pro-Israel groups for her successes at the United Nations in marginalizing the Palestinians, all but told the group she was ready.
“A lot of people have asked if I’m going to run for president,” Haley said. “Now that the midterms are over I’ll look at it in a serious way and I’ll have more to say soon.”
The biggest cheers were reserved for Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who was a bright spot for Republicans on Nov. 8, winning reelection in a landslide. DeSantis listed his pro-Israel bona fides (boycotting Israel boycotters) and his culture wars (taking on Disney after the company protested his “Parents Rights in Education” bill, known among its critics as “Don’t Say Gay”).
The crowd loved it. “The state of Florida is where woke goes to die!” he said to ecstatic cheers.
DeSantis did not once mention Trump; the former president has already targeted him saying whatever success he has he owes to Trump’s endorsement of his 2018 gubernatorial bid and dubbing him “Ron DeSanctimonious.’
Getting the nickname was a clear sign that DeSantis was a formidable opponent, said Fred Zeidman, an RJC board member who has yet to endorse a candidate. “It’s a badge of honor, in that Trump has identified you as a legitimate contender for the presidency,” he said in an interview.
Yet even DeSantis was not a clear Trump successor. The RJC usually heads into campaign-year conferences with a clear idea of which of its board members back which candidates, and then relays the word to Jewish Republicans whom to contact to join a prospective campaign.
That didn’t happen this year, and Trump was the reason. Jewish Republicans are still “shopping” for candidates, Ari Fleischer, the former George W. Bush administration spokesman who is an RJC board member and who also has not endorsed a candidate, said in a gaggle with reporters.
Trump was the elephant in the RJC room, Fleischer said, using the Hebrew word for the animal.
“Donald Trump is the pil in the room. There’s no question about it,” Fleischer said right after Trump spoke. “And he is a former president. He has tremendous strength and you could hear it and feel it with this group, particularly on policy, particularly on the substantive issues that he was able to accomplish in the Middle East. It resonates with many people.”
Trump had earned cheers during his speech as he reviewed the hard-right turn his administration took on Israel policy, moving the embassy to Jerusalem and quitting the Iran nuclear deal, among other measures.
“There are other people, they’re going to look at his style and look at things he’s said, and question if he is too hot to handle,” Fleischer continued.
Trump in his talk at first stuck to a forward-looking script but toward the end of it could not resist repeating his lies about winning the 2020 election. Asked by RJC chairman Norm Coleman how he would expand the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements he brokered between Israel and four Arab countries, should he be reelected, Trump instead bemoaned the election.
“Well, we had a very disgraceful election,” he said. “We got many millions of votes more than we had in 2016, as you all know, and the result was a disgrace in my opinion, absolute sham and a disgrace.”
It was one of many only-in-Vegas moments at an event that brings together disparate groups, including young secular Jews from university campuses gawking at the glitter, Orthodox Jews lurking at elevators waiting for someone else to push the button so they can get to their rooms, and Christian politicos and their staffers encountering an intensely Jewish environment for the first time.
“Shabbat starts on Friday night and ends on Saturday night,” one young staffer explained to another as they contemplated a “Shabbat Toilet” sign taped to a urinal. “But doesn’t it flush automatically anyway?” asked the other.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, another presumed 2020 hopeful, was the only speaker to decry violent attacks on Jews.
“When I think about my brothers and sisters in the Jewish community, in New York City being attacked on the streets of New York, it is time to rise up on behalf of those citizens,” he said. “Rise up against those folks spreading antisemitism, hate and racism.” He was also the only speaker to praise a Democrat, Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen, with whom he has launched an African-American Jewish coalition in the Senate.
A couple of contenders who have separated themselves from Trump said his name out loud — but with disdain.
“Trump was saying that we’d be winning so much we’d get tired of winning,” said Larry Hogan, who is ending a second term as the governor of a Democratic state, Maryland, with high ratings. “Well, I’m sick and tired of our party losing. This election last week, I’m even more sick and tired than I was before. This is the third election in a row that we lost and should have won. I say three strikes and you’re out.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence peppered his speech with fond references to Trump and his refusal to heed experienced personnel who counseled an even-handed Middle East policy, a move that Pence and the RJC both believe paid off.
Yet Pence also appeared to condemn Trump’s boldest rejection of norms, his effort to overturn his 2020 loss, which spurred an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in which Pence’s life was threatened. “The American people must know that our party keeps our oath to the Constitution even when political expediency may suggest that we do otherwise,” Pence said.
One contradiction for those in attendance was the longing for Trump’s combativeness while wanting to shuck themselves of Trump’s baggage.
Typical was Alan Kruglak, a Maryland security systems contractor who said he appreciated the pro-business measures Hogan had introduced in his state but was more interested in a fighter like DeSantis.
“Trump did great things, but I think Trump’s past his time, we need younger blood that is less controversial,” said Kruglak, 68. “Trump needs to hand the baton to somebody younger, and who doesn’t have any baggage associated with them but has the same message of being independent.”
The problem is that insiders said Trump still commands the loyalty of about 30% of the party, and that could be insurmountable in a crowded primary.
Trump, Fleischer said, was inevitable as a finalist but he didn’t have to be inevitable as the nominee.
“If there’s five, six, seven real conservative outsider candidates, Donald Trump will win with a plurality because nobody else will come close,” he said. “If there’s only one or two, it’s a fair fight.”
Who would those one or two be? Fleischer would not say. Among the Republican Jews gathered in Las Vegas, no one would.
—
The post For the Republican Jews whose Vegas confab kicked off the 2024 primary, Trump was always present appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
French Court Cuts Sentence for Teen in Antisemitic Gang Rape of 12-Year-Old Jewish Girl
France, Paris, 20/06/2024. Gathering at place de la Bastille after the anti Semitic rape of a 12 year old girl in Courbevoie. Photography by Myriam Tirler / Hans Lucas.
More than a year after the brutal gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl, a French court has dramatically reduced the sentence of one of the two teenagers convicted in the attack, citing his “need to prepare for future reintegration.”
On Tuesday, the Versailles Court of Appeal retried one of the convicted boys — the only one to challenge his sentence — behind closed doors, ultimately reducing his term from nine to seven years and imposing an educational measure, the French news outlet Le Parisien reported.
“The court took into account the entire case as provided for by law: the facts, their seriousness, but also the personality of the minor and the need to prepare for future reintegration,” the boy’s lawyer Melody Blanc said in a statement.
The original sentences, handed down in June, gave the two boys — who were 13 years old at the time of the incident — seven and nine years in prison, respectively, after they were convicted on charges of group rape, physical violence, and death threats aggravated by antisemitic hatred.
The third boy involved in the attack, the girl’s ex-boyfriend, was accused of threatening her and orchestrating the attack, also motivated by racist prejudice.
Because the girl’s ex-boyfriend was under 13 at the time of the attack, he did not face prison and was instead sentenced to five years in an educational facility.
The lawyers of the victim, Muriel Ouaknine-Melki and Oudy Bloch, praised “the courage of [their] client” for confronting her attackers and ensuring that two of them were imprisoned.
According to police reports from the time, the two French boys cornered the girl on June 15, 2024, inside an empty building in Courbevoie, a northwestern suburb of Paris, questioned her about her Jewish identity, and then physically assaulted and raped her.
The assailants who were Muslim also allegedly called the victim a “dirty Jew” and uttered other antisemitic remarks during the brutal gang-rape.
Under threat of death, she was forced to perform penetrative and oral sex on two of the boys, while her ex-boyfriend threatened to burn her cheek with a lighter and attempted to make her sit on her handbag, which he had set ablaze.
Local reports indicate that part of the assault was recorded, and at least one assailant allegedly demanded 200 euros from the girl to withhold the footage, which was eventually circulated.
The ex-boyfriend sent footage of the assault to a boy the girl had gone out with that afternoon, with the message “Look at your chick,” according to law enforcement. After receiving such a message, the boy informed the girl’s family, who found her an hour after the attack.
“Before letting her leave, they made her swear on Allah not to say anything and that she should not tell anyone, neither her parents nor the police,” the girl’s mother told Le Parisien at the time.
The three-day trial, held behind closed doors, took place in a regional juvenile court in Nanterre, a suburb west of Paris.
During the proceedings, the judge explained that the severity of the sentence came “in view of their concerning personality traits and the immense social disturbance.”
“There is no doubt that [the victim] would not have been assaulted or raped if she had not been Jewish,” the judge said at the time.
The brutal crime sparked outrage throughout France and among the Jewish community, unfolding against the backdrop of a disturbing surge in antisemitism that has gripped the country since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Uncategorized
Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa says he wants to play an NFL game in Jerusalem
(JTA) — The phrase “Next year in Jerusalem” is customarily spoken at the end of the Passover seder. But this past weekend its sentiment was conveyed at the end of a different kind of gathering: a low-scoring NFL game between the Miami Dolphins and Washington Commanders.
“Shoot, it’d be pretty cool to go play in Jerusalem,” Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said postgame.
The game — which the Dolphins won 16-13 in overtime — was the NFL’s first in Spain, as part of a growing international series that’s seen contests played in England, Germany, Brazil, Ireland and Mexico.
Tagovailoa, a Christian, was asked where else he’d like to play after experiencing Madrid and previously Frankfurt, Germany. And his answer caught the eye of a high-ranking diplomat: Mike Huckabee, the United States Ambassador to Israel.
“Tua is right,” Huckabee wrote on X. “Bringing an NFL game to Israel is a great idea. Next year in Jerusalem…I like the sound of that.”
The suggestion comes amid an increasingly contested role for Israel as a host in global sporting events. EuroLeague basketball is supposed to return next month, and officials from the league are in Israel now to assess conditions before finalizing the plan.
Soccer, too, has been a fraught space for Israeli participation. The Union of European Football Associations had been set to vote on suspending Israel but paused the process after the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza that began last month. Some want the organization to return to the deliberations, with Ireland’s soccer federation submitting a motion earlier this month to ban Israel from all UEFA competition for “organising clubs in occupied Palestinian territories without the consent of the Palestinian FA” and “the alleged failure of the IFA [Israel Football Association] to enforce an effective anti-racism policy.”
Tagovailoa’s comments on playing in Israel did not mark the first time speaking about the country during a postgame media availability. Following a home game on Oct. 15, 2023, Tagovailoa paused the press conference to talk about Hamas’ attack on Israel, which had taken place just over a week earlier.
“I didn’t really realize how bad things were in Israel,” Tagovailoa said. “And just wanted to bring to the attention for those who don’t necessarily understand things that are going on, that it really is bad.”
He added, “I don’t know what we’ve come to, but just my thoughts, my prayers are out with those people in Israel,” continuing on to note that there is “also the Ukraine and Russia war still going on as well.”
There has been no indication from the NFL about a potential game in Israel, though Robert Kraft — the American billionaire owner of the New England Patriots, who is Jewish and founded the Blue Square Alliance against Hate, formerly called the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism — sponsored the construction of the Kraft Family Sports Campus in Jerusalem, which includes an American football field. The adjacent park, Gan Sacher, is routinely home to informal football and flag football games.
Meanwhile, the capacity of Jerusalem’s largest stadium, Teddy Stadium, is just 31,000. Attendance at the NFL’s international games have ranged from upwards of 86,000 to, at their lowest, 47,000.
The post Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa says he wants to play an NFL game in Jerusalem appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
‘Pure Astonishment’ and other new Yiddish poems
דער פּאָעט באָריס קאַרלאָוו (פּעננאָמען פֿונעם ייִדיש־פּראָפֿעסאָר דובֿ־בער קערלער) ברענגט דאָ אַ קראַנץ נײַ־געשאַפֿענע לידער אויף פֿאַרשידענע טעמעס — די נאַטור, ארץ־ישׂראל, אַפֿילו „איי־אײַ“. לייענט און האָט הנאה! [רעד׳]
הוילער וווּנדער
ס׳איז אַוודאי שווער צו זאָגן
וועמען האָסטו מערער ליב:
צי דעם פֿרילינג ערבֿ טאָגן,
צי דעם אָסיען שאַרלעך טריב?
און אַפֿילו גרינעם זומער
האָסט אַוודאי גאָרניט פֿײַנט,
און מיט ווינטערדיקן קומער
גרייט ביסט אויכעט ווערן פֿרײַנד…
ס׳איז אוודאי שווער באַשליסן:
וועמען האָסטו מערער האָלט
צי דעם רעגן וואָס טוט גיסן
צי די זון מיט איר ריין גאָלד?
איינס איז קלאָר אַז אַלץ – באַזונדער,
צי אינאיינעם – הוילער וווּנדער!
*
דין־וחשבון
אַרײַנגעקוקט האָב איך אין מײַן עזבֿון
ווי ס׳קוקט אין סוכּהלע אַמאָל אַרײַן אַ יוון
און ניט געווען בכּוח תּופֿס זײַן גענויער
ווי ס׳הייבט זיך אָן דאָרט הימל
און וווּ ס׳עקט זיך רויערד
אַ הון קוקט אין בני־אָדם מעשׂה־אינדיק
און אויך מײַן קוק איז לעכערלעך און זינדיק
אַקעגן מײַנע שורהלעכס שיריים
וואָס פּיקן קרישקעס ערד
ניט שפּירנדיק שמיים
שמיים — דאָרט איז וואַסער, זאָגט מען,
סאַמע מים־חיים…
צו אַלדי רוחות! הילכט דעם טאַטנס זאָג עד־היום
פֿון יענע וואַסערדיקע הייכן וואָס באַגרינדן
דעם שטילן עכאָדיקן שמייכל
בײַסיק לינדן.
*
למען היושר
ייִדיש, ייִדיש תּרדוף
און ווען טוסט עס דעריאָגן
קריגסטו באַלד אַדעראויף
פֿון טיף ייִדישע יאָגן
און זיי זאָגן אַזוי
ניט אין רו פֿון נירוואַנע
זאָלסט דערגרייכן צום בלוי
וואָס ער טוט דיך מהנה
צו אַנטדעקן אַ וועלט
מיט פֿאַרשידענע וועלטן
נאָר דורך יאָגן צעהעלט
צווישן בענטשן און שעלטן
צווישן ברכה און בראָך
מיט אַ הייסער נשמה
איבער ווידער און נאָך
יעדער טראַף – שם און נאָמען.
*
סוף גאָטס פֿרײַטיק
ווען אומרו זיך צום סוף באַרויִקט
און ס׳ווערן אײַנגעשטילט די ברואים
נעם זינגען הלל קרועה־בלוע
פֿאַר דעם באַשעפֿערלס ישועה
פֿאַר דעם באַשעפֿערס גרויסע חסדים
און פֿאַר דעם שעפֿערס אַלטע בגדים
און ווען דער הלל זיך באַגרעניצט
מיט דעם באַשעפֿערס שטילן געניץ
מיט דעם באַשעפֿערלס אַ שמייכל
גראָד ווען דעם שעפֿער דאַרט דער שׂכל
פֿאַרגעס ניט אָפּבענטשן דעם גומל
באַג(ר)יסנדיק דעם גאַסט מיט בוימל
*
לידער מיט ארץ־ישראל
(Singing with Israel)
א.
ס׳איז אַוודאי זייער פּשוט
זאָגן — אַלץ איז שווער און קשה
אַז די וועלט ווערט באַלד פֿאַרברענט,
אַז מע הייבט שוין אויף די הענט,
אַז די האָפֿענונג שוין גוססט,
לעצטע כּוחות גייען אויסעט…
דאָך פֿונדעסטוועגן, מײַן חבֿר,
אַלע ווייסן דו ביסט בראַווער
פֿון די גרעסטע דרייסטסטע ריזן
אַלץ וואָס דו האָסט ניט באַוויזן
וועסט נאָך ניסימדיק באַווײַזן
ווײַל ביסט שטאַרקער נאָך פֿון אײַזן
און ביסט גיכער פֿון אי־מייל
גבֿורות־ישׂראל־מי־ימלל
ב.
די נשמה זינגט און ווייטיקט
נאָר איר ליד קלינגט אײַזן־שטאָל.
טיף געטראָפֿן, שווער באַליידיקט
זינגט זי דאָך מיט ארץ־ישׂראל –
ווידער פֿעלדער אירע גרינע
שטאַרק צעבלוטיקט נאָך אַמאָל…
נאָר די גרוילן באַלד אַנטרינען
ליכטיק ט׳ווערן באַרג און טאָל,
ווײַל דאָס ליד מיט האַרץ טוט שטימען,
דאָס געזאַנג – מיט ארץ־ישׂראל
*
וווּ לעבט אײַ־אײַ־אײַ?
כ׳האָב געפֿרעגט בײַם איי‐אײַ
וווּ עס לעבט אײַ‐אײַ‐אײַ
האָט ער גלײַך מיר געזאָגט
וווּ דער אײַ‐אײַ‐אײַ טאָגט
בלויז פֿאַרשוויגן פֿאַרדעכטיק
וווּ דער אײַ‐אײַ‐אײַ נעכטיקט
כ׳טו אַ שרײַ: דו, איי‐אײַ,
ביסט אַ שטיק שאַלאַפּײַ,
זאָג מיר גיך, כ׳מאָן מיט רעכט,
וווּ פֿאַרברענגט ער די נעכט?
ס׳טוט אָ זאָג דער איי‐אײַ:
אײַ‐אײַ‐אײַ פֿליט פֿאַרבײַ
איבער קלאַנג וואָס ווערט שטום
דאָרט וווּ ס׳דרעמלט די זון.
*
נײַע קלאַנגען
ס׳נעמען קלינגען העראַקליטיש
און היברידיש — נײַע קלאַנגען
און מע זאָגט: ס׳האָט מאַמע ייִדיש
יונגע הערצער שטאַרק געפֿאַנגען
און דו פֿרעגסט זיך: טאַקע ייִדיש?!
פֿרעגסט זיך אָן אַ שמץ באַנג און
ווערסט געפּלעפֿטערהייט פֿאַרחידושט
פֿון דעם קלעזמערישן טאַנגאָ –
כּלל ניט פֿאָטעריש, ניט מאַמיש,
ניט קיין היימיש לשון־קודש
אויך ניט חוצפּהדיק דינאַמיש
צו דער וועלט אַ פֿרעכער ״הודו״?!
מילא, זאָל דאָס אויך זײַן ייִדיש
צי מיט גראַמען, צי אָן גראַמען
בעת אין טײַך קלינגט העראַקליטיש:
אוי, אַ וויי איז צו דער מאַמען!
*
אַ לידל פֿונעם אַלטן גולם
כ’האָב אַרײַנגעקוקט אין סוואַרבע
און דורך תּיבות דאָרט דערזען
אַז דו וועסט צו מיר נאָך קומען,
ממש קומען ווען־ניט־ווען!
כ’האָב אַרויסגעכאַפּט אַ גמרא,
ברייט צעעפֿנט און וואָדען? –
וועסט צו מיר, שטייט דאָרט אַ סבֿרא,
ווידער קומען ווען־ניט־ווען!
כ’האָב גענומען הערן תּורה
פֿון דעם הייליקן בעל־שם
איז ער אויכעט מיך מעורר:
אַז אָט קומסטו ווען־ניט־ווען!
שטיי איך, שוין אַן אַלטער גולם,
שטאַרק צעטומלט און פֿאַרקלעמט:
זאָג, אויף דעם, צי יענעם עולם
וועסטו קומען ווען־ניט־ווען?
*
אַצינדערט
אַצינדערט מעג מען זינגען שיר־השירים
אַזוי פֿיל מילדע לאַסקע רינט אין ווערטער
וואָס שטייען אויפֿעט שטײַף צו מילדקייט אירער
דער געטלעך פרײַער שכינה אויסגעקלערטער
פֿון מינדסטן פּגם און פֿלעקיקן חיסרון
אין ריינקייט אויסגעוואַשן, אויסגעבאָדן
ווען אַלץ וואָס מ׳מעג, וועלן די ווערטער טאָרן
מיט שבֿח צום איינציק לעבעדיקן אָדון
און ער, דער שבֿח, וועט שפּאַלטן שווערע הימלען
צום סאַמע האַרץ פֿון דופֿקדיקן לעבן
און וואַסערדיקער הייליקייטס געווימל
וועט צו דער ערד־און־באָדן פֿלײַסיק שטרעבן
געדענק און בענטש דאָס ליד פֿון אַלע לידער
און קוק אַוועק פֿון נישט וואָס אייביק נישטיקט
און ווען דײַן ווערטערגאַנג ווערט לויזער, מידער
און ס׳רינט אַוועק דער אַפּעטיט צום פֿרישטיק
דערמאָן זיך אין דעם חן פֿון גרויסן חסד
דערקוויק זיך מיט דערוואַכונג וואָס שטײַגט איבער
די אותיות צוויי פּיי נון טיף אויסגעטעסעט
אויף לוחות פֿון דײַן האַרץ ווי שאָטנס טריבע
און זינג און זאָג מיט האָפֿערדיקע קלאַנגען
צעוואַקלדיק דעם מיזמורס שטײַפֿע כּללים
מיט שטורעמדיקע דראַנגען און פאַֿרלאַנגען
צעשטערנדיק דער וועלטס הבֿל־הבֿלים
The post ‘Pure Astonishment’ and other new Yiddish poems appeared first on The Forward.