Grace Gilson


Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

At the Jewish Museum of Chicago, anti-Zionist Jewish artists explore identity and dissent - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Returning to Chicago from an artist residency in Maine, Gabriel Chalfin-Piney-González surveyed the local Jewish museum scene and found it wanting.
“When I came back to Chicago, I wanted to get involved with the ‘Jewish Museum of Chicago,’ and, you know, lo and behold, it doesn’t exist,” said Chalfin-Piney-González, who uses they/them pronouns. “I found that kind of strange.”
So Chalfin-Piney-González set about creating the museum they dreamed of — a cultural center without walls that would offe...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

Tensions flare in Crown Heights as extremist group targets 'zionist white supremacists' over 1991 incident - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Around 20 masked activists stood on a street corner Tuesday night in Crown Heights, distributing fliers accusing “zionist white supremacists” of murdering a child whose accidental death sparked antisemitic violence in the neighborhood in 1991.
Their audience featured both counter-protesters drawn from the Chabad Lubavitch movement they targeted and security officials charged with keeping the peace.
Local officials had denounced the rally planned by a group called Crown Heights Bites Back as anti...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

House Minority Whip Katherine Clark calls war in Gaza a ‘genocide’ — then walks it back - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, a member of the Democratic leadership team, last week became the highest-ranking member of Congress to characterize the war in Gaza as a “genocide.”
But she then walked the comments back on Monday amid a backlash, saying, “I want to be clear that I am not accusing Israel of genocide.”
Clark’s initial comments came after she was confronted by pro-Palestinian protesters during an event in her district in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“We each have to continue to ha...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

Pete Buttigieg shifts tone on Israel following backlash over supportive comments - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Pete Buttigieg said he would support halting U.S. arms sales to Israel and U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state, in a dramatic about-face following backlash over a podcast interview where he expressed cautious support for Israel.
The dramatic shift for the 43-year-old former transportation secretary, who is seen as a possible contender for president in 2028, marks the latest evidence of how past norms on Israel are evaporating within the Democratic Party.
The backlash followed Buttigieg’s con...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

An effort is underway to launch a Jewish high school in Chicago, where antisemitism concerns run high - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Chicago has many hallmarks of a thriving Jewish community: dozens of synagogues of every denomination, a range of kosher restaurants and bakeries and one of the largest Jewish federations in the country. But locals have long lamented one big gap: a Jewish high school within the city limits.
Now, a parent-led initiative to open one in Chicago is gaining steam, with a building under contract, the city’s Jewish federation engaged, and buzz growing among families.
The goal is to launch in 2027, givi...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

A rabbi walked into a convention of Lutherans — and lamented their 'one-sided' resolution on Israel - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, arrived at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Churchwide Assembly last week with decades of experience building ties between the Lutheran and Jewish communities.
But on Wednesday, as Jacobs listened to attendees debate a memorial titled “Stand of Palestinian Rights and End to Occupation of Palestine,” Jacobs said he felt compelled to speak out over what he saw as a “one-sided” narrative.
He tore up the speech he planned to...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

After the UFT endorsed Mamdani, some Jewish educators are withholding their dues in protest - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Moshe Spern thought Michael Mulgrew would listen to him.
The 14-year UFT member lobbied hard for the incumbent president of the United Federation of Teachers, New York City’s teachers union, to be reelected back in May, writing in an open letter that he believed Mulgrew “understands the pressing concerns facing Jewish educators in 2025.”
Mulgrew ultimately eked out a win in the union’s closest-ever election, fending off two progressive challengers who had previously expressed public criticism of...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

NY Times front-page image of emaciated Gaza toddler sparks backlash, then an editors' note - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

A haunting photo of an emaciated toddler cradled by his mother dominated the front page of Friday’s New York Times, quickly becoming a symbol of the hunger crisis in Gaza. Now, the newspaper has amended some aspects of his story amid criticism.
“Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, about 18 months, with his mother, Hedaya al-Mutawaq, who said he was born healthy but was recently diagnosed with severe malnutrition,” the original caption said.
But over the weekend, skeptics about the scope of the hunger c...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

A betrayal or politics as usual? A state rep's endorsement of Zohran Mamdani roils Orthodox rabbis on the Upper West Side - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Last Friday, a group of around six Orthodox rabbis called New York City Assembly member Micah Lasher for a conversation about the then-presumptive Democratic nominee in the city’s mayoral race, Zohran Mamdani.
The call centered on concerns the rabbis and their communities had with a candidate who had refused to condemn the pro-Palestinian slogan “globalize the intifada” and also supported the boycott Israel movement.
According to one of the rabbis on the call, Shaul Robinson of Lincoln Square Sy...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

Kneecap, the anti-Israel Irish rap group whose singer faces terror charges, has sold out its US tour - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

At Pier 17 in Manhattan, a three-story digital marquee recently advertised a stacked program of shows slated throughout this summer and fall.
Notably missing from the display, however, were two apparently sold-out performances in October by the Irish rap group Kneecap, whose members are facing legal jeopardy in London and criticism here for their strident support of the Palestinian cause.
The New York shows, slated for Oct. 1 and 10, were still advertised on a screen at the Pier 17 box office, b...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

The Birthright exodus: 1,500 young adults evacuated from Israel via cruise ship - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

It was early Tuesday morning when young adults on Birthright Israel boarded a fleet of buses, But their destination was not for a desert hike or a history tour, but a planned escape — on a cruise ship headed to Cyprus.
The beginning of Israel’s war on Iran early Friday brought all air travel to a halt, stranding visitors in Israel and Israelis abroad. Despite official government warnings, some visitors have turned to travel by land and sea to neighboring nations as potential escape routes.
But t...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

Brooklyn Pride interfaith service canceled, allegedly over synagogue’s 'public alignment with pro-Israel positions’ - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

The Brooklyn 2025 Pride festivities will not include an interfaith service this year after at least one group allegedly pulled out due to the hosting synagogue’s “public alignment with pro-Israel political positions.”
Kane Street Synagogue, a historic Conservative synagogue in Brooklyn, was set to host the 15th annual interfaith service on Wednesday before it was canceled last week.
Mickey Heller, a co-chair of Brooklyn Pride, said the cancellation followed low registration and after a number of...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

Harvard Divinity School appoints professor who has criticized Zionism to new Jewish studies role - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Facing pressure from the Trump administration in part over its handling of antisemitism, Harvard University last week announced the appointment of Shaul Magid as professor of modern Jewish studies in residence at Harvard Divinity School.
The role is new for the school, a nondenominational center for the study of religion. Magid had been a visiting professor there for two years while on leave from Dartmouth College.
While Magid is a highly regarded scholar of Jewish thought, his appointment to th...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

Boulder's 'very shocked and very traumatized' Jewish community takes stock of its losses, and its strength - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Three days after six of his congregants were burned by a man who yelled “Free Palestine” as he threw Molotov cocktails, Rabbi Marc Soloway said his Jewish community remained “very shocked and very traumatized.”
Soloway, who helms Congregation Bonai Shalom in Boulder, Colorado, rushed to the hospital after learning about the attack. He often attended the Run for Their Lives, a weekly rally to call attention to the Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza, in downtown Boulder but had skipped it o...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

Montreal dance studio joins Israel boycott, dropping classes in Ohad Naharin's Gaga technique - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

When Ita Skoblinski learned that a favorite dance studio in Montreal was boycotting a movement style that originated in Israel, she wasn’t sure what to think.
An Israeli designer who moved to Canada a decade ago, she was sympathetic to efforts to add pressure against the Israeli government over its war in Gaza and occupation of the West Bank. But she was also increasingly uncomfortable with how opposition to the war was manifesting itself where she lived.
“I find myself in a very weird and confu...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

A Chicago cinema canceled a pro-Israel movie screening, relented — then canceled again - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Soon after a Chicago theater canceled a screening of a documentary about campus antisemitism, its operators had second thoughts.
Facing a firestorm of criticism charging the theater with antisemitism, the operators of Facets Film Forum said they would work with the filmmaker, an Israeli-American Jewish rapper who goes by Kosha Dillz, to reschedule a screening of “Bring The Family Home.”
“FACETS Film Forum respects the First Amendment, its protections of free speech and the right to express views...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

Chicago anti-Zionist rabbi calls DC shooting 'heinous and unjustified act' of 'political violence' - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

The leader of an anti-ZIonist synagogue in Chicago decried the murders of two Israeli embassy employees as “heinous,” but said he felt it was too soon to tell if the attack was antisemitic.
“It’s devastating,” Rabbi Brant Rosen, who leads the Tzedek Chicago congregation, said in an interview. “I mean, I think I would say that our members of our congregation — I think I can safely say, uniformly — think that this was a heinous and unjustified act.”
He added, “We also believe that this is harmful...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

NYC penalizes organizers of community garden that required members to oppose Zionism - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Organizers of a community garden in Ridgewood, Queens, that required members to oppose Zionism may now lose their city license.
Applicants to the Sunset Community Garden were asked to sign a “statement of values” that included opposition to Zionism, antisemitism and “nationalist and/or racist beliefs.”
In an April 16 letter, the New York City Parks Department informed leaders of the garden that the statement had violated guidelines. The department told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the appl...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

Israeli left-wing group suspended at University of Haifa after protesting the war in Gaza - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Last week, at a university known for its diverse population, more than a dozen students sat on the floor of a campus building for 10 minutes holding photos of Palestinian children killed in the war in Gaza. 
Five days later, their group was suspended through the end of the semester for staging an unauthorized protest. 
It wasn’t in the Ivy League, and ICE agents weren’t about to raid the dorms. It was the latest dustup over the Gaza war at the University of Haifa, where Jewish and Arab Israeli s...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

The Justice Department announced Friday that it will walk back the cancellations of hundreds of student visas amid mounting legal pressure.
It was not immediately clear whether the reversals would affect any of the high-profile cases of students whose visas were revoked because of their participation in pro-Palestinian protests.
Instead, the announcement related directly to a different set of revocations that have been more widespread: of students who had ever been arrested, even for minor infra...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’ - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Deborah Lipstadt, President Joe Biden’s antisemitism envoy, says parts of the Trump administration’s crackdown on campus antisemitism have “gone way too far.”
In an interview, she declined to comment on specific cases that have unfolded since the White House began cracking down on pro-Palestinian student activists. But she denounced the conditions under which some of the arrests have taken place.
“I think it’s wrong, absolutely wrong and contrary to American due process, to just pick someone up...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

Jewish students, alumni decry ‘weaponization of antisemitism’ across country - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Dozens of rabbis and cantors who graduated from Brown University have a message for their alma mater’s president: “Do not cede control to those who weaponize antisemitism.”
Their message comes in an open letter to President Christina Paxson as she weighs how to respond to a $500 million funding cut threatened by the Trump administration, ostensibly over Brown’s handling of antisemitism on campus.
Brown is one of a growing number of universities, many of them in the Ivy League, to be threatened w...
Global Observer •

Behind the story: Unveiling “The Climate Generation”

(Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and cohesion, preserving the core meaning of the interviewee’s response.)
After nearly a year of gathering stories of young climate activists and innovators across four continents, the Christian Science Monitor has debuted its newest series: The Climate Generation.
The Monitor’s Toronto bureau chief, Sara Miller Llana, and environment correspondent, Stephanie Hanes, collaborated with reporting coach and project director, Clara Germani, to tell th...
The Scope •

When the bike lane ends

Cyclists and their advocates say there is a bike safety issue in Greater Boston. Last week, a cyclist was killed on Memorial Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In June of this year, two people were struck and killed within two weeks of each other, also in Cambridge. Data from the City of Boston’s Vision Zero reported 3,539 cyclists injured and 10 killed in 2023. 
Toni Magee, who works with Dorchester Bike Kitchen (DBK), a volunteer-run bike repair space that is part of a large network of collabo...
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