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Michele Weiss and Justin Brasch mark milestones as first Orthodox Jewish mayors in their cities
(JTA) — This week, as New York City inaugurated its first Muslim mayor, two cities in the United States also made history with the swearing-in of their first Orthodox Jewish mayors.
While Orthodox mayors have been elected in cities and suburbs across the county, including New Jersey, New York State and Florida, the inaugurations of Michele Weiss in University Heights, Ohio, and Justin Brasch in White Plains, New York, this week marked a milestone for Orthodox representation in local politics.
In November, Bal Harbour, Florida, also swore in an Orthodox Jewish mayor, Seth Salver, making him the third Orthodox mayor currently serving in a municipality of Miami Dade.
Here is what you need to know about the United State’s newest Orthodox mayors:
Michele Weiss, first female Orthodox Jewish mayor in the United States
Michele Weiss was sworn in on Wednesday as mayor of University Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, making her one of the first Orthodox Jewish women to lead a city in the United States.
(Meyera Oberndorf, who served as mayor of Virginia Beach, Virginia from 1988-2008, was described as having an Orthodox Jewish upbringing.)
“I want to make a kiddush hashem,” Weiss told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, using a Hebrew term that can mean a positive Jewish role model. “I want to make sure that the Jewish community is seen in a good light, and that’s what I want to portray as a Jewish woman, as an Orthodox Jewish woman, and just make sure that that permeates.”
Weiss said that the Jewish community in University Heights had grown “a tremendous amount” in recent years, driven in part by the low cost of living compared to Cleveland and the fact that the city offers non-public school vouchers.
“It is the largest Orthodox contingency of residents in the state of Ohio, at this point it’s about 20-25%” said Weiss. “They definitely need to be represented, but of course, I represent everyone in the city, not just the Jewish residents.”
Growing up in a Conservative home in another suburb of Cleveland, Richmond Heights, Weiss said that she first became more observant in high school while participating in NCSY, the youth division of the Orthodox Union.
Weiss moved to University Heights in 1997, and worked as the controller and later the CFO of the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland, the largest Jewish day school in Ohio. She is married to her husband, Marcelo, and has three children and multiple grandchildren.
In 2013, Weiss said a coworker inspired her to volunteer as an observer for the League of Women Voters.
“I always was doing quiet good deeds,” said Weiss. “I was at the point, though, where I kept thinking, well, what could I do more for the community? So I had a colleague that said, ‘you know, why don’t you get involved with the city?’”
In 2016, Weiss won a seat on the University Heights city council, and was later appointed by the council as the city’s vice mayor for six years. Weiss said that she felt inspired to run for city council as a voice for the city’s Orthodox.
“I really feel that we’re put on this world to make a difference, and I felt that there needed to be a voice for a lot of reasons,” said Weiss. “I can relate to the secular world and the Jewish world and the Orthodox world, so I can fill that void and that spectrum knowing how to speak to certain people appropriately. I don’t think every religious leader can do that, so I have that ability, and I thought that I would be able to bridge that gap effectively.”
The same year, Weiss also founded the AMATZ initiative, a nonprofit that trains Jewish educators and principals on how to better serve their female students. Weiss also holds board positions on YACHAD, a Jewish disability nonprofit, and the Community Relations Committee at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.
During her tenure on the city council, Weiss often struggled to work with the city’s former mayor, Michael Dylan Brennan, who was censured twice by the council for “inappropriate language.”
During her campaign, Weiss said that she ran on unifying the city, building new municipal facilities and sharing resources with neighboring communities. While Weiss said the mayoral election in University Heights is nonpartisan, she is a Republican. She won the mayoral election with 56% of the vote.
To help bring together the city’s communities following the discord of Brennan’s tenure, Weiss said she planned on hosting programs and educational forums to “show the diversity of our residents.”
“I’m not focusing just on the Orthodox community, I have to focus on everybody, because we want to be a cohesive unit,” said Weiss. “But one of the things is, I think we need to do some healing and unify the community.”
While Weiss said her religious identity had not been a big factor on the campaign trail, during one debate she was asked about her Sabbath observance. Weiss said she had consulted her rabbi and the police chief to develop a plan for situations that would need her attention during Shabbat or Jewish holidays.
Looking ahead to her mayoral tenure, Weiss said she felt a responsibility to serve as a role model amid rising antisemitism.
“There’s hope for the Jewish community going forward in America, and because it’s scary times with with antisemitism right now, I want to be an example, not just to the religious community, but to women and girls that are Jewish that maybe don’t see themselves in that type of leadership position,” said Weiss.
Justin Brasch, first Orthodox mayor of White Plains
Justin Brasch, a career public servant and lawyer, was inaugurated Friday as the first Orthodox mayor of White Plains, a city just north of New York City in Westchester County and a hub of Jewish life.
Brasch, a Democrat, won the mayor’s seat in November with 72% of the vote against Republican opponent Lenny Lolis, becoming the city’s first new mayor since 2011.
Speaking with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency about his upcoming mayoral tenure, Brasch said that he looked forward to setting an example as the county’s only Orthodox mayor, a distinction he said he had earned by building bridges across the city’s diverse communities.
“I love what I do, and everybody knows that I care, and of course I have to set an example, I have no choice, and I like that,” said Brasch. “I have to be accessible to everybody, help everybody, and I do. I go into all the communities, I go to Iftar and break the fast at the mosque, regularly attend the black churches, you name it. I’m there trying to be helpful and build bridges and make things better for people.”
Brasch, now 60, was just 17 when he made his first foray into politics, serving as an intern for then-congressman Ted Weiss on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. There, Brasch said he first “saw how much good government could do.”
“He and his office were in there helping people with housing insecurity and food insecurity and problems with Medicare and Medicaid, and supporting immigrants and helping immigrants get their proper paperwork, etc.,” said Brasch. “I was very inspired by that. I loved how much the people in that office and Congressman Weiss cared and how much good they could do through government.”
As a student at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Brasch founded the school’s Young Democrats chapter. After moving back to the Upper West Side, he served on the political committee of the New York City Sierra Club and the board of the Mid-Manhattan NAACP.
Brasch said that he had grown up “confusidox,” with Orthodox grandparents on one side and Reform grandparents on the other.
For several years after graduating college, Brasch lived with his Orthodox grandfather on the Upper West Side, an experience he said helped set him on a path for public service and toward becoming an Orthodox Jew.
“He had a real love for people, and felt that Jews need to be helping the Jewish community and the broader community, and he was always very inspiring to me, very down to earth,” said Brasch.
Brasch moved to White Plains with his wife, Juli Smith, in 2003 in search of more space, drawn by the city’s diversity, “down-to-earth” spirit and, at the time, small Jewish community. He is a member of the Modern Orthodox synagogues Young Israel of White Plains and Hebrew Institute of White Plains. Brasch and his wife, who is a commissioner in the White Plains Housing Authority, have three children.
“I joke that I have made a lot of mistakes in life, moving to White Plains was not one of them,” said Brasch. “It’s a very diverse place. People get along. People help one another. People are very supportive. We don’t have any of that hate and intolerance and anger that exist in other places.”
Since moving to White Plains, Brasch said that he had seen the local Jewish community grow at a steady pace. According to the UJA-Federation of New York’s 2023 population study, Westchester County is home to approximately 89,000 Jewish adults and 16,000 Jewish children.
“Our community is growing. People know that this is a great place to raise a family,” said Brasch. “We’re a very safe city and a great place. We have five synagogues, as I said, they all get along, everybody works together, and there’s a lot of harmony in our community.”
Beyond his work at his small legal firm in New York City, Brasch has served in myriad leadership roles in White Plains’ government, including on its planning board, school board budget advisory committee, youth bureau and a transportation task force.
He also served for 12 years on the county’s budget committee.
“That was an incredible opportunity to help and to review things and discover things, and to make connections, and certainly to show as a Jewish person, that we care and we’re involved,” said Brasch.
Before announcing his campaign for mayor, Brasch said that he believed his involvement in different communities in White Plains demonstrated to the local Democratic Party leadership that he was well suited for the role.
“We’re an extremely diverse city, and everybody sees that I go to all the different communities,” said Brasch. “I show up at the black churches, I go to the mosque, I go to the black community, the Latin community. I’m completely involved, and they felt that I have the leadership skills and abilities to keep our city moving in the right direction.”
Brasch said that his involvement in White Plains’ diverse communities also served another purpose: combatting antisemitism.
“I believe that we need to be more involved in the broader community to fight anti semitism,” said Brasch. “Unfortunately, the propaganda these days is that Jews are a selfish community that only cares about themselves. And actually, when people get to know us, they see that we’re good people, we care, we want to help all communities and help the world.”
Brasch said that he also expected some people to leave New York City for White Plains following the election of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whose election sparked concern among some of the city’s Jewish residents over his harsh criticism of Israel and avowed socialist politics.
“I do have a different vision from him, except with regard to our desire to help people who have less,” said Brasch of Mamdani. “I do think that there will be somewhat of a migration to White Plains from the city, because we’re a safe city that takes care of our people and builds a nice community.”
During his mayoral campaign, Brasch ran on several key issues, including expanding affordable housing, creating new green spaces and building an intergenerational community center that would put programming for the city’s youth and elderly under one roof.
“I’ve always believed that Judaism is about being the best person you can be helping the world,” said Brasch. “Whether we want to say it’s bringing kedushah or holiness to the world, whether it’s tikkun olam, we are supposed to be a light unto the nation, there’s, quote after quote and teaching after teaching, that we’re supposed to be doing a great job being decent and honest people.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Michele Weiss and Justin Brasch mark milestones as first Orthodox Jewish mayors in their cities appeared first on The Forward.
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Suspicious Explosive Package Targeting Jewish Leader Heightens Antisemitism Fears in Argentina
People hold up pictures of the victims of the AMIA Jewish center bombing during a ceremony to mark the 22nd anniversary of the 1994 attack in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2016. Photo: REUTERS/Enrique Marcarian
Argentina’s authorities are investigating yet another suspected antisemitic incident after a suspicious package addressed to a local branch president of the country’s main Jewish umbrella organization was intercepted, further heightening alarms among community leaders amid a recent surge in attacks.
On Wednesday, the Pilares del Rosario medical center received a package containing explosive material addressed to Gabriel Dobkin, who serves as both the institution’s director and president of the local branch of the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA) in Rosario, a major city in the central-eastern Santa Fe province.
According to local media, clinic staff received a package containing a pack of Philip Morris cigarettes wrapped in transparent tape, which the facility’s manager said felt unusually heavy and immediately aroused suspicion.
Because the package had arrived unrequested via a delivery service, the clinic’s manager quickly raised concerns and called in the police explosives unit.
Police bomb squad dogs later detected explosive material inside the cigarette pack. According to the ongoing investigation, the package also contained a strange substance, though authorities have not yet released further details.
After digging a pit in the facility’s backyard, police experts carried out a controlled detonation of the material.
Even though the package did not include an automatic triggering mechanism, it reportedly contained a number of coins intended to serve as shrapnel in the event of an explosion.
Local law enforcement is treating the incident as a targeted antisemitic attack, describing it as either an attempted act of violence or, at the very least, an act of intimidation.
As the investigation continues, detectives are still analyzing the substance found inside the package but have not yet determined its composition or origin. Surveillance footage from the area is being reviewed, and staff from the clinic are also expected to be interviewed.
DAIA Rosario strongly condemned the attack, describing it as a troubling escalation of threats against Jewish institutions, reflecting a wider atmosphere of hostility toward the community.
“This is an expression of hatred that not only targets the Jewish community, but also undermines the fundamental values of coexistence, respect, and democracy. Such acts must be condemned unequivocally and confronted with resolve. Simply denouncing them is not enough — decisive action is essential,” the organization said in a statement.
“Impunity cannot be an option. Every act of antisemitism that goes unpunished sends a message of tolerance toward hatred,” it continued. “Every firm response from the state is a clear signal that society will not back down. To prevent these acts from recurring, determination, action, and justice are essential.”
This latest incident comes amid heightened security concerns within Argentina’s Jewish community after unknown individuals threw a homemade firebomb at the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish Community Center in La Plata, a city in southeastern Buenos Aires Province, last Sunday.
The Buenos Aires Security Ministry and Police Counterterrorism Division have opened an investigation into the incident, examining possible links to another attack last week that appears to share a similar modus operandi.
The Israelite Literary Center and Max Nordau Library in La Plata were also targeted last Thursday when unidentified individuals threw a homemade Molotov-type device at the building’s entrance.
Although the device failed to ignite, it shattered the building’s windows and caused some material damage. Fortunately, no fires broke out and no injuries were reported.
In response to these latest attacks, Jewish institutions across the country have strengthened preventive protocols and reinforced internal security and surveillance measures.
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US, Israel Cripple Iran’s Nuclear Weaponization Work, New Report Shows
Symbolic mock-ups of Iranian missiles are displayed on a street, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 22, 2026. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
More than two months into the war, Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons has suffered a major setback as US and Israeli strikes have ravaged critical facilities, crippled essential infrastructure, and killed personnel central to Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, according to a new analysis
On Friday, the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a Washington, DC–based think tank, released a new assessment of the impact of Israeli and US strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, concluding that the attacks significantly damaged Tehran’s ability to advance nuclear weapons development, particularly by disrupting its weaponization activities.
A nuclear program generally begins with uranium enrichment, the process of producing material that can power civilian reactors or, at higher levels of purity, be used in a nuclear weapon. Much of Iran’s enrichment infrastructure was destroyed during last year’s 12-day war.
The second element is weaponization, which involves the design, testing, and production of the components needed to assemble a functioning nuclear device — a central focus of the more recent Israeli and US military campaign.
According to ISIS’s newly released report, at least six confirmed nuclear-related sites were destroyed so far, with three additional locations possibly connected to the program also struck, bringing the total number of targeted facilities linked to nuclear weapons development to between nine and 12.
Since the start of the war earlier this year, Israel and the United States have struck a wide range of military-industrial facilities involved in missile, drone, and conventional weapons production.
However, the report indicates that some previously undisclosed sites may also have had connections to Iran’s nuclear activities, potentially raising the true scale of the damage.
By analyzing satellite imagery, the report concludes that Iran’s ability to successfully complete a nuclear weapon has been significantly degraded, with the strikes greatly extending the timeline required to produce a bomb while sharply increasing the likelihood of technical failure.
Before the June 2025 war, intelligence assessments estimated Iran could likely produce a nuclear weapon in less than six months with a high probability of success.
Now, the regime’s chances of successfully completing the weaponization process are considered technically low even over a one- to two-year period, largely because the strikes destroyed not only facilities, but also critical equipment and personnel involved in the final stages of bomb development.
ISIS’s latest findings contradict earlier US intelligence assessments, which reportedly concluded that Iran’s nuclear timeline had not been significantly delayed, arguing that such data is inconsistent with extensive visible destruction across key nuclear sites.
The report also argues that there are no signs Iran has resumed uranium enrichment activities, as facilities repeatedly targeted by Israeli and American airstrikes remain heavily damaged with no detectable reconstruction efforts underway.
Despite extensive damage to the regime’s infrastructure, the report cautions that Iran’s nuclear threat has not been fully eliminated.
ISIS has identified tunnel complexes near Esfahan and Natanz in central Iran that were not directly targeted and are believed to contain most of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile, including roughly 440 kilograms enriched to 60 percent — far above civilian requirements and much closer to weapons-grade material.
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ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan Sidesteps ‘Genocide’ Accusations Against Israel
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
Karim Khan, the embattled chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has cast fresh doubt on accusations that Israel committed “genocide” in Gaza, arguing in a new interview that no legal conclusion has yet been reached in the ongoing legal battle.
In a lengthy interview with anti-Israel journalist Medhi Hasan this week, Khan refused to engage in the popularized rhetoric labeling Israel’s military campaign against Hamas terrorists in Gaza as genocidal, even as pressure mounts on the ICC by activists to pursue more sweeping charges against Israeli officials.
When asked directly whether Israel’s conduct amounted to genocide, Khan emphasized the need for sufficient evidence to level charges against Israeli officials and that prosecutors must follow evidence and legal standards rather than political narratives.
“So, you’re not ruling out that there could be a warrant in the future?” Hasan asked.
“Everything is a function of evidence,” Khan responded, arguing that accusing Israel of genocide for political purposes would be “reckless.”
“You’re saying in the past three years there hasn’t been evidence of genocide in Gaza?” Hasan asked, visibly flummoxed.
Khan lamented the “suffering” in Gaza but reaffirmed that the ICC could not proceed in making final judgements about the nature of Israel’s military operations in Gaza without sufficient evidence. He asserted that officials within the ICC are vigorously analyzing the case and that he cannot reveal more about the nature of the investigation.
“So, genocide is not off limits?” Hasan pressed.
“No crime is off limits if the evidence is there,” Khan responded.
Khan has come under fire for making his initial surprise demand for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, on the same day in May 2024 that he suddenly canceled a long-planned visit to both Gaza and Israel to collect evidence of alleged war crimes. The last-second cancellation reportedly infuriated US and British leaders, as the trip would have offered Israeli leaders a first opportunity to present their position and outline any action they were taking to respond to the war crime allegations.
Nonetheless, Khan’s latest remarks are likely to reverberate through international legal and diplomatic circles, where the genocide accusation has become one of the most contentious aspects of the war between Israel and Hamas. Over the past two years, an array of humanitarian organizations and human rights experts have accused Israel of “genocide” in Gaza. These accusations have been controversial and widely contested, with critics alleging these groups and individuals lack sufficient evidence.
Khan’s comments come as the ICC faces intense scrutiny over its investigation into the conflict. In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and now-deceased Hamas terror leader Ibrahim al-Masri (better known as Mohammed Deif) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. The ICC said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for starvation in Gaza and the persecution of Palestinians — charges vehemently denied by Israel, which has provided significant humanitarian aid into the war-torn enclave throughout the war.
US and Israeli officials issued blistering condemnations of the ICC move, decrying the court for drawing a moral equivalence between Israel’s democratically elected leaders and the heads of Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that launched the war in Gaza with its massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication.
Another challenge for Israel is Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.
The ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel as it is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which established the court. Other countries including the US have similarly not signed the ICC charter. However, the ICC has asserted jurisdiction by accepting “Palestine” as a signatory in 2015, despite no such state being recognized under international law.
Genocide is among the most difficult crimes to prove under international law because prosecutors must establish specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
Hasan, one of the most prominent anti-Israel critics in media, has spent the past two years unleashing an unrelenting barrage of criticism against the Jewish state, repeatedly accusing the Israeli military of pursuing a “genocide” in Gaza.
In the interview, Khan also forcefully denied allegations of sexual misconduct that have engulfed his office in recent months, accusing critics of politicizing the claims amid the ICC’s high-profile investigations into Israel, Russia, and other global conflicts. He dismissed suggestions that his pursuit of Israeli leaders was intended to distract from the allegations against him, saying that he did not have evidence to substantiate the claim.
Khan further alleged that senior Western officials attempted to pressure the ICC over its investigation, including what he described as warnings from prominent American and British political figures about the geopolitical consequences of targeting Israeli officials.
The ICC’s investigation has placed the court at the center of an increasingly bitter international divide over the Gaza war. Khan’s comments won’t settle the debate, but the ICC prosecutor appeared to signal a more cautious legal approach than some of Israel’s fiercest critics have demanded.