Grace Gilson


Jewish Telegraphic Agency •

Latest Epstein files release unleashes wave of antisemitic conspiracy theories on social media - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

A bank account named for an ancient god in Israel. A “synagogue of Satan.” References to “goyim” that hint at a Jewish-run global cabal. The mystery of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s alleged visit to China.
These are among the latest antisemitic conspiracy theories to be born from the Jeffrey Epstein files, following the document dump that has occupied online commentators for days.
Since the financial advisor and sex trafficker’s arrest by federal authorities in July 2019 and death...
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After Alex Pretti killing in Minneapolis, Jewish gun owners confront Second Amendment tensions - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Roberta Tarnove was horrified last week when she learned that a man protesting ICE was shot and killed in Minneapolis. And it wasn’t just because someone was dead.
The 65-year-old Jewish resident of Los Angeles was also distressed that federal officials said the agents were justified in shooting Alex Pretti because they believed he was armed. Pretti, 37, was a licensed gun owner in a state where carrying a gun openly is legal.
“I’m very sad. He certainly had every right to carry a gun,” Tarnove...
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‘We are not made of wood and paper’: Jackson synagogue marks first Shabbat after arson - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

JACKSON, Mississippi — The emotion was palpable in the pews Friday night at Beth Israel Congregation’s first Shabbat service since its synagogue was targeted by an arsonist last week.
“We will not only survive, we will thrive,” the congregation’s student rabbi and spiritual leader, Benjamin Russell, told his community. He was draped in the only surviving tallit from the synagogue’s library, where the arsonist lit the fire.
“A few days ago, someone tried to wound us, someone tried to destroy what...
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After synagogue arson, Jackson’s Jews find solidarity, and complexity, at interfaith prayer service - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

JACKSON, Mississippi — Days after their synagogue was burned in an arson attack, dozens of Jews in this city stood for prayer in a communal service.
The interfaith prayer event at the Thalia Maria Hall in downtown Jackson, billed by Mayor John Horhn as an “All-City Call to Prayer and Action,” had been planned as a general ceremony for the city.
But after Beth Israel Congregation was set ablaze Saturday morning, Benjamin Russell, who serves as the student rabbi and spiritual leader of Beth Israel...
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Jersey City’s outgoing Jewish mayor Steven Fulop signs antisemitism orders as 'guardrails' for his successor - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

As he leaves office after nearly 13 years, Jersey City’s Jewish mayor Steven Fulop is leaving his successor “guardrails” he hopes will help protect the city’s Jewish community.
Fulop, who has served as Jersey City’s mayor since 2013, signed two executive orders on Dec. 22: one banning the city from participating in efforts to “boycott, divest from, and sanction the State of Israel,” and the other to protect houses of worship and congregants from protest.
Fulop said in an interview that he assign...
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Police keep pro-Palestinian protesters chanting 'We support Hamas' away from NYC synagogue - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel activists faced off in Queens on Thursday night outside a synagogue that was hosting an event promoting real estate sales in a Jewish city in the West Bank.
But efforts by the NYPD largely ensured that the two groups did not come close to each other, and that the pro-Palestinian protesters could not come to close to people attending the event, either.
Even so, the protesters, organized by the group PAL-Awda, could be heard by attendees shouting slogans including “D...
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At a former driving school, Kehillat Harlem plants roots for Jewish life uptown - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

The “Yes You Can” driving school is no more, but the sign that still hangs over its former storefront in Central Harlem is something of an apt message for the new tenant — a fledgling synagogue that aims to demonstrate the vitality of Jewish life in the neighborhood.
Kehillat Harlem, a non-denominational “shul community,” moved into the Adam Clayton Powell storefront last year after seven years in transit. Since its founding, it has held services in a basement, a local cafe and even outdoors.
No...
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Michele Weiss and Justin Brasch mark milestones as first Orthodox Jewish mayors in their cities - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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 Novembe...
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18 notable Jews who died in 2025 - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jews around the world were already reeling after nearly two years of war and death in Gaza and the grim confirmation that many hostages hadn’t survived the Oct. 7 attacks or two years of captivity. Then came news of the shootings in Sydney, Australia, where 15 people were gunned down at a celebration of Hanukkah.
Despite its grief, the Jewish world also took time to celebrate the lives lived by a constellation of figures who made lasting contributions to film, architecture, politics and Jewish s...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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