Uncategorized
Survey shows Democrats much likelier than Republicans to see antisemitism as a problem
(JTA) — A national survey found that Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to agree that prejudice against Jews is a serious problem and that antisemitism poses a growing threat to Jews.
The divide between Republicans and Democrats in the Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday tracks with previous polling — but it also comes after weeks of antisemitic invective from the rapper and designer Kanye West, who now identifies as a Christian conservative and who has courted Republicans.
It also comes after former President Donald Trump, a Republican, dined with West, who is now known as Ye, and Nick Fuentes, a prominent Holocaust denier, and after multiple government and nonprofit groups have reported spikes in reported attacks on Jews.
The survey released Wednesday showed 83% of Democrats identifying prejudice against Jews as a very serious or somewhat serious problem. Just 44% of Republicans agreed with those assessments. Overall, a substantive majority, 60%, agreed that prejudice against Jews is a serious problem.
A similar divide characterized a question about whether antisemitism “represents a growing threat to Jewish Americans,” with 73% of Democrats saying that it does, as opposed to 34% of Republicans. Overall, 51% of respondents said it represented a growing threat.
Quinnipiac University, based in Hamden, Connecticut, has been asking versions of questions about prejudice against Jews since 2017, when it started tracking assessments of prejudice against a number of minority groups in the wake of the election of Trump, who during his campaign and presidency made bigoted statements.
In August 2019, after a year of deadly attacks on synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway, California, 48% of Republicans classified anti-Jewish prejudice as a serious problem, while 78% of Democrats did.
In 2017, the pollsters asked the question twice, once in February just after Trump assumed office and then a month later after a series of bomb threats against Jewish institutions, and a vandal destroyed headstones in a St. Louis Jewish cemetery. Trump made headlines when he shouted down reporters who asked about the perceived rise in antisemitism. The overall number of respondents classifying prejudice against Jews as serious rose from 49% to 70% in that period.
In the March 9, 2017, survey, after the bomb threats and the vandalism, and Trump’s press conference, 53% of Republicans said prejudice against Jews was a serious problem and 87% of Democrats did.
The new survey marks the first time Quinnipiac has asked respondents whether antisemitism “represents a growing threat to Jewish Americans.” It was also the first of the surveys to use the word “antisemitism.”
The survey reached of 1,614 U.S. adults, including 1,456 registered voters, by phone between Dec. 8-12. It has a margin of error of 2.6 percentage points.
—
The post Survey shows Democrats much likelier than Republicans to see antisemitism as a problem appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
120th anniversary of the Forverts advice column “Bintel Brief”
מזל־טובֿ! דעם 20סטן יאַנואַר 2026 איז געוואָרן 120 יאָר זינט דער גרינדונג פֿון „אַ בינטל בריוו“ — דער עצות־רובריק פֿונעם פֿאָרווערטס. די רובריק איז פֿאַרלייגט געוואָרן פֿונעם גרינדער און לאַנגיאָריקן שעף־רעדאַקטאָר אַב קאַהאַן אין 1906.
כּדי אָפּצומערקן דעם יום־טובֿ ברענגען מיר אײַך צוויי זאַכן:
• ערשטנס, אַן אַרטיקל וועגן אַ טשיקאַווען בריוו וואָס איז אָנגעקומען אין דער פֿאָרווערטס־רעדאַקציע אין יאַנואַר 1949, פֿון אַ לייענער וועמעס זון האָט חתונה געהאַט מיט אַ קריסטלעכער פֿרוי
• צווייטנס, אַ פֿאָרווערטס־ווידעאָ אויף ייִדיש וועגן דער געשיכטע פֿון „אַ בינטל בריוו“, מיטן געוועזענעם פֿאָרווערטס־רעדאַקטאָר באָריס סאַנדלער און דער פֿאָרווערטס־אַרכיוויסטקע חנה פּאָלאַק.
The post 120th anniversary of the Forverts advice column “Bintel Brief” appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
Report: Khamenei Moved to Underground Bunker in Tehran
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a televised message, after the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Amid tense expectation of US strike on key assets of the Islamic regime, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was moved into a special underground bunker in Tehran, the Iran International website reported on Saturday.
The report further added that the supreme leader’s third son Masoud Khamenei has taken over day-to-day management of the leader’s office, functioning as the de facto main channel for coordination vis-à-vis the executive branches of the government and the security forces.
The report describes Khamenei’s hideout as a “fortified site with interconnected tunnels.”
On Thursday US President Donald Trump said that a “massive” naval force was heading toward Iran.
“We have a lot of ships going that direction just in case. We have a big flotilla going in that direction. And we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters.
“We have an armada. We have a massive fleet heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it. We’ll see,” Trump added.
The USS Abraham Lincoln, along with three destroyers, was spotted making its way to the Middle East from Asia, according to ship-tracking data.
Uncategorized
Israel, Syria to Finalize US-Brokered Security Deal ‘Soon,’ as ‘Developments Accelerate Noticeably’
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a Ministerial formation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus, Syria, March 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
i24 News – Syrian and Israeli officials are expected to meet soon under US mediation, perhaps in Paris, to finalize a security agreement between Damascus and Jerusalem, a source close to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa told i24NEWS on Saturday.
According to the Syrian source, the talks will also focus on various potential joint strategic and economic projects in the buffer zones between the two countries.
“There is very optimistic talk suggesting the possibility of even opening an Israeli embassy in Damascus before the end of this year, given the significant progress in the prospect of Syria joining the Abraham Accords,” the source said.
The original Syrian plan was limited to a security agreement and the opening of an Israeli liaison office in Damascus without diplomatic status, the source tells me. “But developments are accelerating noticeably under pressure from the United States, and specifically by President Trump, and amid growing Syrian openness.”
If Damascus manages to reach an integration agreement with the Druze in southern Syria, similar to its agreement with the Kurds in the northeast, and Israel commits to respecting Syria’s unity and territorial integrity, then al-Sharaa would be open to elevate the status of the agreement with Israel to more than just a security agreement, to also include diplomatic relations and an Israeli embassy in Damascus.
“The al-Sharaa government believes that a viable compromise to advance a peace process with Israel would include a 25-year lease for the Golan Heights, similar to the one Jordan previously signed with Israel over the border enclaves, turning it into a ‘Garden of Peace” of joint economic ventures,” the source said.
The source close to al-Sharaa also tells me that US President Trump is seeking to bring Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Al-Sharaa together for a peace agreement signing ceremony.
It should be noted that Israel has repeatedly rejected returning any part of the Golan Heights, let alone the entire territory.
On another front, the source stated that Damascus intends to adopt a new local administration system based on expanded administrative decentralization to enhance participation in local communities across all Syrian governorates.
According to the source, this solution would resolve persisting disputes with the Druze, Kurds, Alawites, and other minorities. A new Syrian government is expected to be formed within the next three months, the source added.