Uncategorized
‘We have to leave our comfort zone’: Cautious but determined, Israeli expats protest Netanyahu’s government
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Benny Chukrun, speaking in Hebrew on a wind-whipped day outside the Israeli embassy in the U.S. capital, had a message for his fellow protesters.
“We have a special role in Washington. We have access to the Jewish opinion leaders in the United States,” he said at a rally on Sunday opposing far-reaching changes planned by the new government in Israel, including a proposal to limit the power of the country’s judiciary. “We have to leave our comfort zone and act.”
Israeli expatriates have been coming together in cities worldwide in solidarity with the tens of thousands who have gathered every Saturday night in Tel Aviv and elsewhere to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government. Rallies have taken place in New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles, Miami, Vancouver, Sydney, Berlin, Paris and London, drawing crowds ranging in size from 50 to 200. This weekend, the protests in North America took place on Sunday to accommodate demonstrators who observe Shabbat.
It’s new and at times intimidating territory for Israeli expatriates. Israelis in America were once known to keep a low profile in Jewish communities due to a stigma associated with leaving Israel. That sense of shame has faded as growing numbers of Israelis have relocated to the United States for work in the tech sector or other fields. Overseas travel and communication have also grown far easier. More recently, Israeli political activists in the United States have become best known for supporting their country publicly via organizations such as the Israeli-American Council.
The group organizing many of the rallies, UnXeptable, formed in 2020 to demonstrate in solidarity with Israeli protests against Netanyahu. Now, the mandate has broadened to oppose the actions of the Israeli government. That change has sparked familiar anxieties among Israelis in the United States: Are they harming Israel’s public image? Do they have a right to criticize their home country now that they have moved outside of its borders?
These questions populated multiple WhatsApp groups ahead of this weekend’s protests, said Kathy Goldberg, 57, an Israeli American who helped organize the solidarity protest in Evanston, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.
“There were fears of it looking, ‘anti-Israel,’ fears of antisemitism, that it will look like we’re piling on Israel and giving them more ammunition, when in fact these are people who love Israel and believe that right now this is the most pro-Israeli thing we can do, to help protect Israel as a democracy,’” she told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
What helped Goldberg and other Israelis overcome those fears was the role that they feel Israelis living abroad can play in explaining to Jewish communities why it’s OK, this time, to come out and protest. At the rally outside of the Israeli embassy, Chukrun pointed out that Israeli Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli just traveled to the United States to defend the government’s proposals.
“Chikli was here a while ago, trying to persuade the conservative Jewish funders of Kohelet that the revolution underway is not antidemocratic,” Chukrun told the 50 or so Israelis who met outside the embassy, referring to the Kohelet Forum, an influential Israeli right-wing think tank that is leading the charge in advocating abroad for the new government.
“We can give the opposing voice, we must give the opposing voice,” he told the crowd, which responded with murmurs of agreement. “Whoever has friends in Jewish organizations, reach out. We must explain to them what is going on. There is a lot of ignorance, misunderstanding.”
The Israelis who are protesting, both in Israel and abroad, are reeling from a barrage of potential changes. The issue with the highest profile has been a proposed reform that would significantly weaken Israel’s judicial review and change the way judges are appointed. Groups of protesters also oppose government pledges to annex West Bank territory to Israel, restrict the rights of LGBTQ Israelis and expand police powers — particularly in relation to Israeli Arabs.
“A lot of [Jewish] Americans say,’What’s the problem? Here [in the United States], politicians pick judges,’” said Chukrun, 62, who works in educational tech. “They don’t understand that [in the United States], it is just one part of an overall structure of checks and balances, and you can’t just take one aspect of the state of Israel that is already a democracy standing on chicken legs.”
Expatriate Israeli protesters outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., Feb. 5, 2023. (Ron Kampeas)
Etai Beck, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, told the crowd at the San Francisco protest that the Jewish Diaspora had a moral stake in speaking out now. He framed his speech as a true/false test. Like Chukrun, he criticized the Kohelet Forum as well as Israel Hayom, a free right-wing tabloid in Israel that is funded by Miriam Adelson, wife of the late casino magnate and Republican donor Sheldon Adelson.
“The Jewish people outside Israel are not allowed to express their opinions and join the protest: False,” he said in his remarks in English, which were shared on WhatsApp with other protesters. “One, Israel was established as the worldwide Jewish center. Two, the Jewish people worldwide lobbies and supports Israel — in Congress, in the media, in day to day life.”
To the degree that Israeli Americans have had a public profile until now, that profile has leaned right. The Israeli-American Council, funded to a large degree by the Adelsons, has served as a forum for Republicans in recent years; it was one of just two Jewish groups that Donald Trump agreed to speak to as president, and he used the occasion to mock American Jews for not supporting Israel enough. The protests IAC organizes typically defend Israel’s sitting government.
Shay Bar, 38, who attended the Los Angeles protest with his family, said the concerns of Israelis abroad in this instance stretched beyond partisanship.
“Our solidarity from abroad is for the future of Israel and our future here in the Diaspora,” he said. “If Israel’s democracy erodes, that will directly affect Jewish and Israeli life and in the Diaspora.”
At the Washington rally, protesters held up massive Israeli flags. An older man, speaking Hebrew, asked a group of teenagers holding up letters spelling “DEMOCRACY” in English whether they were aligned properly, and they collectively rolled their eyes and said, in English, that yes, they were. The protest ended with a rendition of “Hatikvah,” the Israeli national anthem.
Protesters in San Francisco made light of an old Israeli warning not to “wash one’s dirty laundry” abroad. “We learned from Bibi [Netanyahu] to wash our dirty laundry overseas,” said a poster in San Francisco, a reference to Netanyahu’s wife Sara’s habit of loading her flights with dirty clothes because she preferred laundry service overseas.
“Some of us here are here temporarily, some not so much,” said Yoni Charash, 47, a lawyer wearing a T-shirt bearing UnXeptable’s logo. “We all go visit, we have a connection, those of us who leave Israel are not cut off from Israel.”
Nor were they cut off from the larger Jewish communities they live in, said Chukrun. Times had changed since Israelis arriving in the United States kept to themselves because they were alienated by the synagogue-centric life of American Jews.
“Jews in the United States feel the Judaism of faith and Israelis feel the Judaism of national identity, the Israeliness,” he told JTA. “There is a cultural difference, but in recent years it’s begun to change.”
Bar in Los Angeles said Israelis are likelier now to assimilate into American Jewish communities than not. “We’re Israeli Americans who live within the community, we send our kids to school with a Jewish education, go to synagogues on holidays and are an integral part of the American Jewish community,” he said.
Chukrun, speaking to JTA, said it was critical to leverage the relationships Israelis had with American Jews.
“We have to explain that it’s not the land of the patriarchs and matriarchs, not the land of the Bible,” he said. “It’s a real country with real people — with ugly things.”
—
The post ‘We have to leave our comfort zone’: Cautious but determined, Israeli expats protest Netanyahu’s government appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
Joel F. Brown named next Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Forward Association
Joel F. Brown has been named the next Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Forward Association, the nonprofit entity that publishes the Forward, America’s most influential and widely read nationwide Jewish publication. He has served as a member of the Forward board and of the Forward Association for 10 years.
Brown most recently served with the Chicago-based law firm Goldberg Kohn as a principal in its Commercial Finance Group. He has written and lectured on a wide variety of finance-related legal topics and was named one of the 2021 Best Lawyers in America honorees in Banking and Finance law. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University and of New York University School of Law.
Since retiring from the practice of law in 2024, Brown has been pursuing a Masters Degree in Jewish Studies from the Spertus Institute. Brown also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, has served as President of Am Yisrael Conservative Congregation (Northfield, Illinois) and is affiliated with the Shalom Hartman Institute.
Brown said, “I am honored to assume this important role in supporting the Forward’s ongoing storied history of reporting on the Jewish American experience in all its diversity. Over the next few years, I expect the Board will help guide the Forward in its mission to cover the full spectrum of Jewish American politics, culture and religion, with an emphasis on reaching new audiences, and in particular younger audiences.”
About the Forward
The Forward is America’s leading voice in Jewish journalism, delivering incisive coverage of the issues, ideas and institutions that matter to American Jews.
The Forward‘s independent, non-ideological perspective on world and national news, and its unparalleled coverage of Jewish arts, culture and opinion, have made it the most influential and widely read nationwide Jewish publication today, and it has been honored with the most journalism awards of any Jewish media organization.
The Forward reaches more than 100 million viewers annually across its website, social media, email newsletters, events and podcasts. The Forward‘s free e-newsletters include the Forwarding the News morning briefing and others highlighting areas of special interest like Yiddish and antisemitism.
Leading outlets turn to the Forward‘s journalists for analysis and interviews, including The New York Times, CNN, Fox, NPR, Politico, Haaretz and The Washington Post. The Forward has been archived by the U.S. Library of Congress and named one of the top nonprofit news sites by Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab.
The post Joel F. Brown named next Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Forward Association appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
Eurovision Faces Major Test as Countries Weigh Israel’s Participation
Construction work is ongoing in the main hall of Wiener Stadthalle the venue of next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, in Vienna, Austria, Nov. 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
The Eurovision Song Contest faces a “watershed moment” on Thursday when members of the body that organizes the contest may vote on whether Israel can compete in 2026, as some nations threaten to withdraw if it is not excluded due to the Gaza war.
European Broadcasting Union members will convene to discuss new rules designed to prevent governments and third parties from disproportionately promoting songs to influence voters after controversy this year over Israel’s second-place win.
If members are not convinced the rules are adequate, there will be a vote on participation, the EBU said, without naming Israel specifically.
Public broadcasters from Slovenia, Ireland, Spain, and the Netherlands have all threatened to boycott the event, scheduled for May in Austria, if Israel is allowed to take part, citing concern over the Palestinian death toll in Gaza, where Israeli forces had been waging a military campaign against the ruling terrorist group Hamas until a recently implemented ceasefire.
EUROVISION AIMS TO BE NON-POLITICAL
The televised annual celebration of pop music, watched by around 150 million viewers worldwide, aims to be non-political, but the Gaza war has embroiled it in controversy. A boycott by some of the competition’s biggest European backers, including Spain, risks a major drop in audience numbers and potential sponsorship.
This year, critics accused Israel of unfairly boosting the second-place finish of its entrant Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists that triggered the conflict. Israel has not responded to these accusations but frequently argues it has faced a global smear campaign.
“We very much hope the package of measures will assure members that we have taken strong action to protect the neutrality and impartiality of the Song Contest,” the EBU said.
Eurovision expert Paul Jordan, who did a PhD on the contest, said it was a “watershed moment” for the competition.
“This is a real crisis point for Eurovision and the EBU … I think it probably has to go to a vote,” Jordan said.
Ben Robertson from fan site ESC Insight noted the potential impact of a loss in audience, but added without Israeli inclusion, Eurovision risks becoming more isolated.
NORWAY CALLS PROPOSED CHANGES ‘PROMISING’
The Israeli foreign ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Luxembourg’s RTL broadcaster backed the proposed changes, while Norway’s NRK broadcaster described the EBU’s signal of major change as “promising.”
If a vote against Israel were successful, Germany would probably withdraw and not broadcast the contest, a broadcasting industry source told Reuters. German broadcaster ARD did not comment. Austrian host broadcaster ORF wants Israel to compete.
Sources within Israeli broadcaster KAN told Reuters it believed discussions about excluding Israel were unjustified, asserting that KAN was in full compliance with EBU rules. It also noted KAN’s support for Israeli acts that have delivered what they described as memorable Eurovision performances.
Russia has been excluded from Eurovision since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Uncategorized
Belgian Police Detain Former EU Foreign Policy Chief Mogherini in Fraud Probe
European Union VIce Presiden and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini (L) is seen during a talk with Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh in Hanoi, Vietnam, Aug. 5, 2019. Photo: REUTERS/Kham
Belgian police on Tuesday detained former European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and a current senior EU diplomat as part of a fraud investigation that included raids at several sites, three sources familiar with the probe said.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) said the investigation focused on “suspected fraud related to EU-funded training for junior diplomats.” It involved searches at the EU‘s diplomatic service in Brussels, at the College of Europe – an elite university in Bruges that educates many EU officials – and at the houses of suspects.
Mogherini and senior diplomat Stefano Sannino, both Italian nationals, are well known in Brussels diplomatic circles and news of their detentions sent shockwaves through the EU community in Brussels.
Mogherini was the EU‘s high representative for foreign and security policy and head of its diplomatic service from 2014 to 2019. She became rector of the College of Europe in 2020.
TENDER OF TRAINING PROGRAMME PROBED
Sannino previously served as the most senior civil servant in the diplomatic service between 2021 and 2024 and is now director general of the European Commission’s department for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Gulf.
The EPPO said in a statement that three people had been detained but withheld identities, citing the ongoing investigation. Neither Mogherini nor Sannino could be reached for comment.
The prosecutor’s office said its investigation centered on the establishment of the European Union Diplomatic Academy – a nine-month training program for junior diplomats, which was awarded to the College of Europe in 2021-2022 by the EU diplomatic service following a tender procedure.
It said there were “strong suspicions” that confidential information was shared during the process with one of the candidates participating in the tender.
“Prior to the searches, the EPPO requested the lifting of the immunity of several suspects, which was granted,” the statement said. “All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty by the competent Belgian courts of law.”
A spokesperson for the EU diplomatic service confirmed police visited its offices on Tuesday as part of an investigation into activities that took place before the current foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas took office.
The diplomatic service is “fully cooperating with the authorities,” added the spokesperson, Anitta Hipper. “Since it’s an ongoing investigation, we will not be able to say more.”
The College of Europe said in a statement it would “fully cooperate with the authorities in the interest of transparency and respect for the investigative process.”
“The college remains committed to the highest standards of integrity, fairness, and compliance — both in academic and administrative matters,” it said.