Uncategorized
Uruguay’s president scuttles plan to turn giant Nazi eagle into a peace dove after criticism
(JTA) — Uruguay’s president has withdrawn a proposal to transform a swastika-emblazoned 800-pound bronze eagle from a sunken Nazi ship into an artistic display of peace, following criticism that the plan devalued history.
The question of what to do with the eagle, which sits in a naval warehouse, has vexed Uruguay since private explorers recovered it from the wreckage of the Admiral Graf Spee in 2006. The country briefly displayed it as a historical artifact but retracted the display after facing charges that it was glorifying Nazism.
In 2019, a Uruguayan court ruled that the government must auction the crest and give the proceeds to the investors who paid for the recovery mission. It was pulled off the auction block amid protests by Jewish groups and the German government; last year, a Jewish businessman offered to buy it and destroy it.
President Luis Lacalle Pou offered another idea on Friday: let the Uruguayan sculpture artist Pablo Atchugarry melt down the relic, refashioning the Nazi eagle into a dove of peace.
Local Jewish leaders initially applauded the presidential announcement. But soon voices emerged to criticize the plan.
Turning a Nazi artifact into a peace dove would be like if “Mexico turned its Aztec sacrificial stones into camping tables,” Uruguayan historian and humorist Diego Delgrossi argued. A former parliamentarian, Anibal Gloodtdofsky, likened it to “transforming Auschwitz into a nude camp.”
And the Uruguayan writer Mercedes Vigil tweeted in response to the government’s announcement, “If the cultural heritage of humanity followed these criteria, jewels like the Roman Circus, Cappadocia, the Wailing Wall and more, today would be scorched earth.”
On Sunday Uruguay’s president announced that he withdrew his decision. “If one wants to generate peace, the first thing to generate is unity. And that is what is not happening,” Lacalle Pou said in a press conference. “I still think it’s a good idea, but a president has to listen.”
The debate extended across the Rio de la Plata, the river separating Uruguay and Argentina, where there is a significant Jewish population and the region’s only Holocaust museum, which recently reopened after a three-year renovation.
“All ideas and artistic representations that raise awareness about the horror of Nazism are very valuable,” the Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum’s executive director, Jonathan Karzembaum, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Monday. “However, it is not necessary to take an object or historical document for this, especially one as unique as the eagle on the Graf Spee, which links the history of the Third Reich with the Rio de la Plata river.”
Another Argentine proposed a different plan for the Nazi eagle.
“The eagle on the Graf Spee must not be adulterated or destroyed,” tweeted Carlos Maslaton, an attorney and political liberal with a large social media following. “On the contrary, it should be taken to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, which is the country of the Jews, and exhibited in a special monument with the phrase: ´Failed Nazis, the operation went wrong. Zionism has won. Blow yourself up.’”
Uruguay is home to about 15,000 Jews, according to the Latin American Jewish Congress, out of a total population of 3.4 million. It was the first South American country to officially recognize the state of Israel and was home to the first Israeli embassy in Latin America, established in 1948.
Uruguay is far from alone in struggling with how to handle Nazi relics. Most auction houses eschew the items, in part out of fear that they may be purchased by Nazi sympathizers, though a few have made a business in the trade.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a statement in 2021 urging Uruguay to display the crest in a museum instead of selling it to an open market. German officials have changed their initial anti-display posture, saying that they would allow the eagle’s display in an educational museum context. Lacalle Pou did not offer another plan after withdrawing the peace dove proposal.
—
The post Uruguay’s president scuttles plan to turn giant Nazi eagle into a peace dove after criticism appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
Providence voters pass ballot initiative that could lead to divestment of city funds from Israel
(JTA) — Voters in Providence, Rhode Island, have approved a ballot measure that could result in the city divesting public funds from Israel, according to local media, in a major victory for the Israel boycott movement.
In a major victory for the Israel boycott movement, voters in Providence, Rhode Island, have approved a ballot measure that could result in the city divesting public funds from Israel, according to local media.
With 81 of 82 polling locations partially reported, the Rhode Island Board of Elections tallied 75% voting to approve the measure versus 25% rejecting. Both the Rhode Island Current and the Boston Globe report the measure was approved.
“We are overjoyed that the city of Providence has voted — by more than a 3 to 1 margin — to divest our collective dollars from support for genocide and ethnic cleansing,” Lex Rofeberg, who runs the alternative Jewish engagement network Judaism Unbound and was an organizer with the Providence divestment initiative, told JTA. “This historic moment can serve as an example for other cities around the country hoping to align their investments with their values.”
The ordinance calls for the capital city to refrain from investing in “foreign countries conducting ethnic cleansing, apartheid, illegal military occupation, or genocide.” Though the ballot language does not mention Israel by name, it was heavily supported by local pro-Palestinian groups and opposed by some Jewish and pro-Israel groups.
A representative for the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island previously told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the group would explore legal options to challenge the ballot measure in the event that it passed.
The vote makes Providence the largest municipality yet to vote in favor of some form of Israel divestment, following the lead of Somerville, Massachusetts, whose voters approved a nonbinding divestment measure last year. Providence is home to an estimated 15,000 Jews, or around 7% of its population. Progressive Jewish groups, including the local chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, were among the ballot measure’s advocates.
The city’s mayor, Brett Smiley, a pro-Israel Democrat who converted to Judaism while in office, lost his primary to a democratic socialist, an early indicator of which way the divestment vote would go.
Activist initiatives to challenge U.S. financial aid to Israel have picked up steam in the years since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and ensuing Gaza war. On the morning of Election Day, President Donald Trump, who described aid to Israel as a political liability, announced the U.S. would end nearly $4 billion in annual military aid to Israel by the end of the year.
The post Providence voters pass ballot initiative that could lead to divestment of city funds from Israel appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
Republican Lawler concedes to Democrat Conley in fierce battle for Jewish vote in NYC suburbs
(JTA) — Republican congressman Mike Lawler has conceded to Democratic challenger Cait Conley, a former national security official, after competing fiercely for Jewish voters in the lower Hudson Valley of New York.
Lawler has been a staunchly pro-Israel member since joining Congress in 2023, and was endorsed by the Republican Jewish Coalition and the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC.
Conley was endorsed by the pro-Israel group Democratic Majority for Israel, and has said she supports Israel while opposing the Benjamin Netanyahu government.
Lawler, who is Catholic, has deep ties to the district’s large Orthodox Jewish population, and touted their support recently when asked about the neck-and-neck polling.
Both Lawler and Conley have tried tying their opponent to polarizing figures in their respective parties. Lawler has asserted that Conley, a moderate, will not separate herself from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and particularly New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has a lower favorability rating outside the city. Conley denounced Mamdani’s statement on the three-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack after Lawler challenged her to do so during a debate.
Conley, meanwhile, has tied Lawler to President Donald Trump, accusing him of being a rubber stamp for Trump’s legislative priorities.
The post Republican Lawler concedes to Democrat Conley in fierce battle for Jewish vote in NYC suburbs appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
In early LA mayoral results, Karen Bass holds slim lead over Nithya Raman, who sparred with DSA on Israel
Early returns in the Los Angeles mayoral election showed incumbent Karen Bass with a slim lead over Councilmember Nithya Raman, whose comments on Israel became a flashpoint in the race.
The first batch of results — totaling about 500,000 votes — showed Bass leading Raman, 50.8% to 49.2%.
The final outcome may not be known until Wednesday or later, a common occurrence in tight California races due to the preponderance of mail-in ballots. Nearly 90% of California voters did so by mail in the June primary.
But if the primary results are any indication, Bass’ lead may evaporate as more votes are counted.
In the June 2 open primary — a system in which the top two vote-getters from any party advance to a runoff — Raman trailed a Republican, Spencer Pratt, by eight points for second place behind Bass. She won the ensuing batches of mail-in ballots, but did not pass Pratt until June 7. She ultimately surpassed him by more than four percentage points.
Raman, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has clashed with the organization — and frustrated many of her Jewish constituents — while trying to strike a balance on Israel. She has called the war in Gaza a genocide, but declined to adopt the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions platform — a stance that led the DSA to consider expelling her.
Bass, a mainstream Democrat who served six terms in Congress before running for mayor in 2022, entered the race as a historically unpopular incumbent, largely thanks to her response to the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. Raman endorsed Bass prior to declaring her own candidacy on the last day to enter the race, a move Bass has characterized as a personal betrayal.
The polls swung back and forth in the weeks leading up to the election. Bass, who won most labor endorsements, was leading until September, when one poll sponsored by the Los Angeles Times showed Raman ahead by 11 points with a third of voters still undecided. A follow-up poll by the Times last week showed the two in a dead heat.
Unlike many other DSA candidates up for election across the country on Tuesday, Raman, an urban policy wonk who immigrated to the U.S. from India when she was 6, never made Israel a focal point of her campaign. Instead, she focused more on housing, homelessness and budget policy.
But her membership in the DSA, an interview she granted Hasan Piker during the primary and the genocide comments dogged her anyway, especially among Jewish Angelenos.
Raman, after publicly condemning the DSA’s anti-Israel statements after Oct. 7, sponsored a resolution for a ceasefire and return of hostages in March 2024, disappointing mainstream Jewish groups who called the motion one-sided. Then, during the primary, Raman told Piker she believed the Gaza war was a genocide and that Israel was an apartheid state. She also said she would not seek the endorsement of pro-Israel Democratic party groups as she had in 2024.
Her record on Israel seemed likely to come up when Raman participated in the candidate forum for Jewish voters Sept. 29. But Raman struggled to get through answers about the DSA, Piker and especially genocide and BDS — which she called a “legitimate form of peaceful protest” — leading to loud audience groans. During Bass’ turn on stage, the mayor said she did not support BDS and did not believe the war in Gaza was a genocide.
Mail-in voters historically skew to the left, and the primary vote may offer a preview of the margin Raman might need.
In that election, about 58% of the total votes were tallied election night, when Bass led Raman 36.5% to 21%. Raman got the biggest share of the ensuing ballot batches, beating Bass by about five percentage points.
The post In early LA mayoral results, Karen Bass holds slim lead over Nithya Raman, who sparred with DSA on Israel appeared first on The Forward.
