Marjorie Taylor Greene calls Gaza war a ‘genocide,’ likely the first Republican lawmaker to do so
(JTA) — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Georgia Republican who has previously advocated against U.S. funding to Israel and been accused of antisemitism, appeared to be the first Republican in Congress to call Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide.”
“It’s the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct. 7 in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza,” Greene said in a post on social media Monday evening.
Greene’s use of the word.
Greene’s statements came as part of a barrage of criticism aimed at fellow Rep. Randy Fine, a Jewish Florida Republican and one of Israel’s staunchest supporters in the House, over his recent comments on social media about the conflict.
“There is no starvation. Everything about the ‘Palestinian’ cause is a lie,” Fine wrote in a post on social media Sunday. Last week, Fine also posted, “release the hostages. Until then, starve away.”
NY Times front-page image of emaciated Gaza toddler sparks backlash, then an editors’ note
(JTA) — 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.
On Tuesday night, the newspaper announced that it had revised the story, saying that it had learned that the child had underlying medical issues that affected his muscle development. The revision removed the mother’s quote from the story saying that Mohammed had been born healthy and added context from his doctor, though it did not back away from the other reporting in the story, “Gazans Are Dying of Starvation,” including its claim that the child was suffering from malnutrition due to food shortages.
‘Egregious, persistent’ Jew-hatred at Baltimore public schools, federal complaint alleges
(JNS) — Jewish students in the Baltimore public school system, which has an enrollment of more than 75,000 students across 160 schools and programs, have experience “egregious and persistent discrimination and harassment” by teachers and fellow students, according to a new federal complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education.
The complaint, which alleges that Baltimore schools violated the rights of Jewish students under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, accuses the public school system of having “knowingly allowed its schools to become hostile environments for Jewish students, while neglecting to address numerous incidents of antisemitic harassment, bullying and discrimination,” according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Iran demands US pay for strikes damage before nuclear talks
(JNS) — Iran will not return to “business as usual” with Washington unless the U.S. compensates it for damages incurred during last month’s war, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the Financial Times, as Tehran hardens its stance and lays out new conditions for renewing nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration.
Araghchi said the U.S. must pay for losses Iran sustained during the 12-day war (“Operation Rising Lion”) with Israel, which briefly drew in the U.S. (“Operation Midnight Hammer”).
“They need to explain why they attacked us in the middle of negotiations, and they must guarantee they won’t do it again during future talks,” Araghchi said in an interview in Tehran. “And they must compensate [Iran] for the damage they have caused.”
Araghchi, Iran’s lead negotiator on nuclear matters, said he and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff exchanged messages during the war and through its aftermath. The Iranian diplomat told Witkoff that resolving the years-long nuclear dispute would require “a win-win solution.”
NYT building vandalized after Gaza story correction issued
(JNS) — Unidentified individuals spray-painted “NYT Lies, Gaza Dies” on The New York Times building in Manhattan on Wednesday, with sections of the structure’s doors and windows also daubed with red paint.
The incident follows heightened criticism of the newspaper’s coverage of the Gaza conflict. The perpetrators remain unknown.
The graffiti appeared hours after The New York Times issued an editor’s note amending its July 24 article, “Gazans are dying of starvation.” Five days after publication, the Times acknowledged that its story referenced a Gazan boy, Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, suffering from severe malnutrition, but later learned from his doctor and medical records that the child also had pre-existing health conditions. The editor’s note underscored that the article had been updated to reflect these new details.
UCLA settles antisemitism lawsuit with $6.13M payout, including donations to Jewish groups
(JTA) — The University of California has agreed to a sweeping settlement in a high-profile lawsuit that accused UCLA, one of 10 campuses in the UC system, of enabling antisemitic discrimination during campus protests in 2024.
The agreement, announced Tuesday, includes roughly $6.13 million in payments, according to Becket, the religious liberty law firm that backed it — a number that may resonate with many Jews. It also includes a permanent court order requiring the university to prevent the exclusion of Jewish students from public spaces.
The lawsuit, Frankel v. Regents of the University of California, was filed by students and supported by Becket. It alleged that during last year’s pro-Palestinian encampment, UCLA officials allowed protestors to establish what the lawsuit called a “Jew Exclusion Zone,” barring Jewish students and faculty from accessing parts of campus, including classrooms and libraries.
Zohran Mamdani’s pro-Palestinian positions drove 83% of his new voters in the NY primary, poll shows
(JTA) — Zohran Mamdani’s advocacy for Palestinians was a motivating factor for most of the New Yorkers who voted for him in the mayoral primary, new polling from a progressive research group suggests.
Most voters who showed up for Mamdani were inspired by his campaign to lower costs and tax the wealthy, according to the poll conducted by Data for Progress and released by the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project on Tuesday. But their third-most motivating issue was “his support for Palestinian rights,” which drove 62% of his voters.
New Yorkers who never voted before, a surge of tens of thousands of people, were especially motivated by Mamdani’s pro-Palestinian beliefs — 83% said it drove them to the voting booth.
Mamdani, who is running to be New York’s first Muslim mayor and has said that Palestinian rights are central to his identity, sharply criticized Israel’s offensive in Gaza during the primary race. When drilled repeatedly by journalists and opponents, he said that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians and that he supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.
New Trump policy letting federal employees proselytize at work references tefillin
(JTA) — The Trump administration has released new guidelines for federal employees expressing their religion in the workplace, protecting activities ranging from displaying religious objects to recruiting coworkers to their religion.
The guidelines namecheck tefillin, Jewish prayer phylacteries, as an example of a religious item that federal workers may leave on their desks and use during breaks.
In a memo titled “Protecting Religious Expression in the Federal Workplace” sent on Monday by the Office of Personnel Management, the federal government’s human resources agency, the office said federal workplaces should be “a welcoming place” for employees who practice religion — or want to proselytize, within limits.
“During a break, an employee may engage another in polite discussion of why his faith is correct and why the non-adherent should re-think his religious beliefs,” the memo says before adding, “However, if the nonadherent requests such attempts to stop, the employee should honor the request.”
