Wrong About Wright

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

to Jeremiah Wright to defend him. I think that is of relevance to Georgia voters and intelligence that go into these decisions,

perhaps Jewish voters. Warnock’s religious role model responded immediately after 9/11 by saying that “America’s chickens were coming home to roost.” I think that’s a difference, that’s certainly not my point of view.

The other big difference is that, and this goes for Collins and Loeffler as well: Of the four top candidates, I’m the only one who shows up on Day One in Washington who can say that I’m working for the people of Georgia and only for the people of Georgia. Each of the other three is only in this race because someone put them there. And for this reason, Loeffler, Collins and Warnock will all have divided loyalty between the people of Georgia and one or two powerful patrons in Washington or Atlanta. The people of Georgia deserve something better

First Amendment?

than that. They deserve someone they know who will be there, fighting for them and for them only.

Q: What part of President Donald Trump’s pro-Israel agenda do you agree with?

A: I agree with the move of the embassy to Jerusalem. I agree that the nuclear deal with Iran, the JCPOA, was not a good deal, and I think that clearly the region has progressed to a place of greater stability since the U.S. withdrew from it [in May 2018]. I think the region and the world will be in a better place of greater strength than renegotiating that deal so that Iran is not able to export and finance mayhem, even if not nuclear, conventional mayhem as they had been doing aggressively since the plan was put in place. And you have to give them credit for the agreements that clearly

were endorsed by House Speaker

the United States has played a big part in putting together between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain. I hope there are more.

Q: Did you agree with the reimposition of sanctions and additional sanctions the Trump administration has placed on Iran?

A: Generally, yes. I’m not going to say that I’m signed onto the “maximum pressure” campaign, but Iran is a dangerous rogue state and agent of instability in the region, and I don’t believe that additional sanctions renegotiation – are a good idea. But I don’t think they’re a bad idea as part of laying the groundwork for renegotiation of arms, as well as hostility between Iran and other countries.

Q: But you supported the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran deal, correct?

A: I think it was a bad deal and withdrawing from it has left the region in a better place. I have not been in the Senate, so I have not been privy to the multiple layers of but I can say in hindsight there have been positive consequences from withdrawing, yes.

Q: How can we best fight antisemitism, especially on college campuses?

A: We need to be vigilant. We need to call out things as they happen. We as adults and young adults, we as parents, communicating to our children, can’t communicate a message to go through life with bowed heads. We need to call out anti-Semitism wherever it appears, and we need to encourage our children to be strong in the face of it. It’s something that’s always been with us. It’s a form of bigotry and hatred that will never go away, but that doesn’t mean that we need to allow it to fester or grow as it seems to have been and the biggest thing we can do is really calling it out.

Would you support anti-BDS legislation, and what do you say to Democrats who say that such measures go against the

A: I would support anti-BDS legislation. It doesn’t go against the First Amendment. It doesn’t do a darn thing to the First Amendment to say that you’re not going to support the boycott. The boycotters can still boycott. Their First Amendment rights are still intact. That doesn’t mean you need to support it.

Q: What’s your reaction to Democrats and those who are for conditioning U.S. assistance to Israel?

A: As those conditions have been outlined, I’m against that. I’m opposed to placing conditions on our support for Israel.

Q: What’s your reaction to Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), whose re-election campaigns

– absent a follow-up effort towards

Pelosi?

A: Clearly, they could be stronger in valuing the American-Israeli relationship. Generally speaking, I think they are each proud members of the extreme left-wing of the Democratic Party. They don’t represent the mainstream of the Democratic Party nationally or in Congress.

Q: Has the Democratic Party become antisemitic and anti-Israel? There’s the notion that this party is no longer your father’s party.

A: The Democratic Party is not antisemitic or anti-Israel. Virtually, every vote that comes up, there are strong bipartisan majorities in both the House and the Senate favoring the American-Israeli alliance. Are there a handful of voices saying things that

Q: What’s your reaction to Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is expected to be elected to Congress, despite her support for the QAnon conspiracy theory and for making bigoted statements?

(JNS) The top Democratic candidate in the special Senate election in Georgia defended antisemitic pastor Jeremiah Wright back in 2008.

Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, defended Wright after a tape emerged of a 2003 sermon called “Confusing God and Government” in which Wright said, “not God Bless America, God damn America.”

The tape came to light during Barack Obama’s presidential run in 2008, as Obama was at the time a member of Wright’s church in Chicago. During the campaign, Obama disavowed the remarks and eventually withdrew his membership from the church.

“The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisoners, passes a threestrike law, and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America,’ ” said Wright in the sermon. “No no no, not God bless America, God damn America, that’s in the Bible, for killing innocent people, God damn America for treating her citizens as less than human, God damn America as long as she tries to act like she is God and she is supreme.”

In a March 2008 appearance on Fox News, Warnock, who said that he had been “dispatched” to defend Wright after the tape emerged, praised the “social transformation that’s been the hallmark of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s ministry.”

“We celebrate Rev. Wright in the same way that we celebrate the truth-telling tradition of the black church, which when preachers tell the truth, very often it makes people uncomfortable,” said Warnock in response to the sermon and other remarks.

He also said, “I think the country has been done a disservice by this constant playing over and over again of the same soundbites outside of context.”

Wright has a history of making other provocative statements, including ones that are antisemitic. Examples have included blaming “them Jews” for not being able to be in contact with Obama after he won the White House, and stating that “ethnic cleansing is going on in Gaza. Ethnic cleansing of the Zionist is a sin and a crime against humanity, and they don’t want Barack talking like that because that’s anti-

A: There you have the extreme, extreme element in the Republican Party that the Republicans refuse to speak out against. In fact, Doug Collins and Kelly Loeffler, who I’m running against, have congratulated her on her victory. And they should be ashamed because as they endorsed her, they are also at least complicit. It’s at least an implicit endorsement of her various statements and positions that are disturbing and way out

Georgia Democratic Senate candidate defends antisemitic pastor Jeremiah Wright

there. Israel.”

Warnock is running in a special election to serve the remaining two years of the term of Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), against incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp after Isakson retired in 2019 for health reasons. He also faces off against GOP Rep. Doug Collins and seven Democrats, including Matt Lieberman, a son of former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).

In accordance with Georgia electoral law, if no candidate gets at least 50 percent of the vote, a runoff between the top two finishers will be held in January.

On Nov. 3, all candidates for Isakson’s seat, regardless of partisan affiliation, will be on the ballot. According to many polls, Warnock is the Democrat most likely to advance to the expected run-off unless the January election ends up being between Loeffler and Collins – a possibility with Lieberman playing spoiler to Warnock’s chances. Otherwise, the special election would likely be between the two Georgia Republican members of Congress.

As of March, Warnock stood by his defense of Wright.

“Any fair-thinking person would recognize that everything a government does, even the American government, is not consistent with God’s dream for the world,” he said. “And preaching at its best points out those contradictions but then shows us the path forward.”

A Warnock campaign spokesperson told Fox News that the candidate “deplores and disagrees with any kind of remark that is antisemitic or discriminates against anyone.”

“He doesn’t agree with all of the positions other pastors support and has said such throughout this campaign,” said spokesperson Terrence Clark. “Rev. Warnock loves this country, and he supports honoring the dignity of all people, but also finding common ground to reform our broken systems. Once again, our opponents are playing the same Washington games to try to divide and distract people instead of standing up for health care in the middle of a pandemic.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

Kruzansky explains. “Most of the people who work at the polls are older and could be high risk.”

BBYO has tied Voice Your Vote to its annual regional kick-off plans for the coming year.

“Because of COVID we couldn’t have our usual regional kickoff where we bring 500 teens together in person,” Kruzansky says. “This year we decided if we can’t have everybody together, let’s pivot to a model where we bring the regional kickoff to your community.”

BBYO CVR is now showing up to every chapter’s community with a 20-foot inflatable movie screen for a “drive-in movie” night. And every one of those drive-in movie events will have a Voice your Vote component to it.

“We want to reach as many teens as possible.[We thought] ’let’s do an event that the teams are going to be drawn into and build upon it so that they have a more rounded experience. It’s fun to go to a drive-in movie with your friends and really learn about Voice Your Vote, rather than just sit at a table and register people to vote. We want to meet teens where they are at,” says Kruzansky. “Every kickoff will have a table with information about registering to vote and to get people registered to work the polls.”

BBYO is thankful to have several partners helping them in their efforts, including

Connecticut’s Secretary of State Denise Merrill, and State Treasurer Sean Wooden.

“As Connecticut residents, your voices matter in both local and national elections, and trust me, this will be the most important election of your lifetime,” says Wooden in the BBYO video. “So remember to register to vote because we’re counting on you. For nearly a

century now, BBYO has been dedicated to improving our communities here in Connecticut, and their work is always defined by passion, creativity, and thoughtfulness, they are on the front lines of youth engagement. And this voter registration drive is yet another example of their leadership.”

According to Voice Your Vote’s website, there are 47 million 18- to 29-year-olds who are eligible to vote in the 2020 election, and 15 million of them have turned 18 since the last presidential election.

According to Pew Research Center, one in 10 eligible voters are between the ages of 18 and 23 (referred to as Generation Z).

“The primary focus of Voice Your Vote is to teach teens how to be civically engaged from a young age,” explains Ryan Ladd, BBYO’s digital strategy manager. “Our nearly 150 teen field organizers from across the U.S. are working hard to register voters, pledge voters, recruit poll workers, and get people involved in this effort in general. Since August, more than 1,300 members of the BBYO community have taken action in one of our key campaign areas. We’re also proud that we’re quickly climbing to recruiting 300 poll workers.”

Besides reaching out to BBYO members and alumni, Sadinsky is also encouraging those outside BBYO’s sphere to get involved – her extended family have all heard her pitch about the importance of voting on Nov. 3.

“I definitely think that this is a very important election. No matter which way it goes. Not just our country but potentially the world could see change,” says Sadinsky. “As a woman, I know that there was a lot that went into me being able to vote. So, I don’t take that for granted. I think it’s really important to emphasize the history of how we got to where we are and why this is a right that we should exercise.”

DORON LOWENBERG, A BBYO MEMBER FROM STAMFORD, MANS A VOICE YOUR VOTE TABLE AT THE STAMFORD JCC.

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Briefs

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks says he is being treated for cancer

(JTA) – Former British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks announced he has been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing treatment. In a statement posted to his 12, according to The Times of Israel.

Twitter feed Thursday afternoon, Sacks’ office said he had been “recently diagnosed” with an unspecified cancer and hoped to return to work “as soon as possible.” “He remains positive and upbeat and will now spend a period of time focused on the at work on another Israeli series called

treatment he is receiving from his excellent medical team,” the statement said. “He is looking forward to returning to his work as soon as possible.”

Sacks, 72, has been treated for cancer twice before, in his 30s and again in his 50s, a fact that wasn’t widely known until it was disclosed in a 2012 book. Sacks served as chief rabbi of the British Commonwealth from 1991 until 2013 and is among the most prominent expositors of Orthodox Judaism in the world, having authored dozens of books addressing contemporary spiritual and moral issues. A translation and commentary on a Jewish prayer book that he wrote has become enormously popular worldwide. His most recent book, Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times, came out last month.

Israel & Lebanon are issue for first time in 30 years

(JTA) – Israeli and Lebanese officials began direct negotiations over their maritime border in the Mediterranean Sea, marking the first time the two nations have consulted over a non-security issue in decades. Officials from both sides, who met Wednesday in the Lebanese border town of Naquora, stressed that the discussions were not a step towards a normalization of relations. Two of Israel’s Arab neighbors, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, have recently signed peace deals with Israel, opening the door for full diplomatic relations and increased trade and tourism.

Lebanon and Israel are technically still at war, having never signed an official peace treaty after decades of conflict beginning right after Israel’s founding. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is one of the region’s main violent aggressors against Israel.

“We’re not talking about peace talks or negotiations over normalization, but rather about the attempt to solve a technicaleconomic problem that for a decade has been preventing us from developing natural resources in the sea for the benefit of the people of the region,” Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said Monday, Oct.

At stake in the talks, which are being mediated by the United Nations and the United States, is a zone of over 300 square miles full of natural gas that is claimed by both countries. Lebanon hopes an agreement could help its ailing economy, which has one of the highest GDP-to-debt ratios in the world. The next meeting in the process is scheduled for Oct. 28.

HBO Max to air Yom Kippur War drama ‘Valley of Tears’

(JTA) – HBO Max has bought the rights to “Valley of Tears,” a drama about the 1973 Yom Kippur War that is being touted as Israel’s biggest-budget TV series to date. The 10-part series depicts the war through the eyes of young soldiers through four different plot lines. No premiere date has yet been announced. It stars Lior Ashkenazi, familiar to international audiences from his role in Israel’s acclaimed film “Foxtrot” and his work opposite Richard Gere in “Norman: The Moderate Rise And Tragic Fall Of A New York Fixer.” There is significant talent behind the scenes as well: It was created and co-written by Israeli-American writer Ron Leshem, who wrote HBO’s “Euphoria,” and Amit Cohen, who wrote the popular Israeli thriller series “False Flag.” The pair are also already

negotiating a non-security

“Traitor,” a thriller currently in postproduction.

Jewish doctor who killed a bear, raises $9M in Alaska’s Senate race

(JTA) – Al Gross, the Jewish Alaska physician running to defeat incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, raised an eye-popping $9.1 million in the last quarter, funds fueled in part by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Gross, who is running as an Independent but has been endorsed by Democrats, has been neck and neck with Sullivan in polls since late August in what is usually a solidly Republican state, making the infusion of funds especially potent. The fundraising total is astonishing in Alaska’s small media market; by way of comparison, the Anchorage Daily News reported recently that the Democrat Sullivan ousted in 2014, Mark Begich, raised less than $9 million over the two years ahead of the election. The Sullivan campaign did not release its quarterly figures, except to say that Gross had out-raised them.

The Gross campaign said donations surged after Justice Ginsburg died last month. Democrats were furious that Senate Republicans are rushing to replace her before the presidential election. Gross, whose father Avrum was once the state’s attorney general, was already mounting a formidable challenge against Sullivan, who has allied himself closely with President Donald Trump. Gross’ policy focus is healthcare reform. His character focus is his upbringing as an Alaskan, born just after an avalanche, and a TV ad notes that “he killed a grizzly bear in self-defense.” Also, he prospected for gold. The Anchorage Daily News confirmed the bear-killing story, and in the process discovered that a conservative opposition research outfit sought to confirm it as well.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg to get a statue in her native Brooklyn

(JTA) – The late Jewish Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is getting her own statue in her native Brooklyn. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo named the members of a commission this week that would oversee the installation of a statue honoring Ginsburg, who died last month. “Her legacy as a jurist, professor, lawyer and scholar will endure for generations and we are honored to erect a permanent statue in memory of Justice Ginsburg,” Cuomo said. The New York Times also reported that there are a number of other initiatives to honor Ginsburg, including a bronze statue to be erected next year at a Brooklyn development. New York City last month named a municipal building in Brooklyn for Ginsburg.

Among the 19 people Cuomo named to the commission are Ginsburg’s daughter and two granddaughters; Irin Carmon, the Jewish journalist and Ginsburg biographer who helped make popular Ginsburg’s late-in-life sobriquet, “Notorious RBG”; Nina Rotenberg, the Jewish NPR judiciary reporter who was a close friend of Ginsburg’s; and a number of her former clerks. Cuomo also named five honorary members of the commission, including Hillary Clinton, Ginsburg’s colleague on the Supreme Court bench Sonia Sotomayor, and Gloria Steinem, the pioneering Jewish feminist.

Adelsons spend $75 million on anti-Biden PAC

(JTA) – In a late bid to boost President Donald Trump’s reelection prospects, Sheldon and Miriam Adelson reportedly gave $75 million to a political action committee running ads targeting Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Politico on Thursday quoted someone close to the Preserve America PAC who said the bulk of the $84 million that the PAC has brought in since its creation at the end of August came from the Adelsons. Sheldon Adelson is a Las Vegas-based casino magnate who along with his wife are major givers to Jewish and pro-Israel causes as well as to medical research. Also giving to the PAC is Bernie Marcus, the Home Depot founder who is a powerhouse in Atlanta’s Jewish community. Marcus gave $5 million dollars, the report said. The Adelsons last month indicated they were ready to pour another $50 million into efforts to preserve Republican control of the White House and the Senate.

San Diego rabbi assaulted outside his synagogue

(JTA) – A rabbi was assaulted outside of his synagogue in San Diego and an Orthodox man was beaten on the street in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg. The San Diego incident occurred on Oct. 10 and was the latest in a series of escalating acts of harassment against congregants of the Shiviti Congregation, Rabbi Yonatan Halevy told San Diego’s 10 News. Halevy was the victim of the latest incident, in which a teenager riding a bicycle hit him on the head and yelled a racial slur at him outside the synagogue in University City, a large residential and commercial district next to the University of California’s San Diego campus. “Everyday they come by here, taunt us, throwing bottles at us, sitting on our roof blasting music, and then breaking a window to my van,” Halevy said. In Williamsburg, video footage posted to Twitter on Thursday night showed a man in Orthodox Jewish garb approached from behind by individuals who begin hitting and kicking him. The assailants left the scene within seconds of the assault. The Twitter account that posted the video, Williamsburg News, said the incident had occurred near the intersection of Throop Avenue and Bartlett Street and that police and local Jewish community groups had responded.

Self-described ‘skinhead’ guilty of trying to blow up a Colorado shul

(JTA) – A man who plotted to blow up a synagogue in Colorado has pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes and explosives charges. Richard Holzer, a self-described “skinhead” and former Ku Klux Klan member who used Facebook to promote white supremacy, was arrested last November for plotting to blow up a 100-year-old synagogue in Pueblo, Colorado. The synagogue, Temple Emanuel, has 35 member families. Holzer was arrested after plotting with a man he thought was a co-conspirator but who was actually an FBI agent. Holzer had previously attempted to poison the synagogue’s water supply with arsenic.

Doctors perform life-saving surgery on baby during birth

By Abigail Klein Leichman (Israel21c via JNS) Doctors in Israel saved a newborn’s

life on Wednesday with a rare surgical procedure performed before the boy was fully outside his mother’s body. The “ex utero intrapartum treatment” (EXIT) procedure during a Caesarean-section delivery at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center was planned when prenatal imaging revealed that the fetus’s airways were blocked by a growth. They knew the fetus would be fine until his umbilical cord was cut because the placenta provides oxygen. Once the cord is detached after birth, he would not have been able to breathe.

A team of some 30 physicians prepared for the EXIT procedure – previously done in Israel only a few times – using a 3D-printed model of the fetus’s neck.

The multidisciplinary team of doctors and nurses delivered the baby’s head and inserted a tracheal tube that bypassed the growth. When they pulled the rest of his body from the womb and cut the cord, he was able to breathe through the tube. Mother and son are reported to be in good condition. The doctors believe the airwayblocking growth may disappear on its own; otherwise it can be surgically removed.

“I’ve been an obstetrician for over 25 years and every birth is a new source of excitement, but this was one of the special ones,” said Dr. Ariel Many, director of labor and delivery at the center’s Lis Maternity and Women’s Hospital. “To be a partner in a procedure where you’re holding the head of the fetus and treating him while he is mostly still in his mother’s womb, and then delivering this new life into the world, is a supreme, uplifting, special and touching feeling that will stay with me and the team for a long time,” said Many.

This article was first published by Israel21c.

Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife says Soros family ‘running the Democrat Party’

(JTA) – The latest prominent American to advance conspiracy theories about Jewish philanthropist George Soros: Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist and the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas who shared a meme on Facebook Wednesday claiming that Soros’ family is “evil” and “really running” the Democratic party. The meme, first posted by a rightwing page called “The Great American Movement,” shows a compilation of photos of Democratic figures posing with children of Soros, the Jewish-American hedgefunder and Democratic megadonor. The Democrats include Sen. Kamala Harris, the vice presidential nominee; Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi; and Hillary Clinton, the 2016 presidential nominee. A caption reads, “Who is really running the Democrat Party? …The Soros family. The original post also says, “George Soros is training his family to carry on his evil legacy…”

Soros has become the leading avatar of right-wing conspiracy theories that veer into antisemitism. Republican officials and activists, as well as far-right extremists and conspiracy theorists, regularly assert with scant or no evidence that he is secretly funding, or in control of, a broad array of liberal causes, or otherwise out to undermine the United States government. He is among the top funders of Democratic candidates, but is not the largest giver.

The idea that rich Jews are conspiring to secretly control world leaders is an age-old antisemitic stereotype.

Thomas has a history of sharing falsehoods from The Great American Movement Facebook page. In the past, she has shared false posts from the page accusing Democrats of committing voter fraud, calling California a “war zone” and claiming that Barack Obama wiretapped the Trump campaign. This year, following repeated calls from civil rights activists, Facebook is aiming to crack down on antisemitic content. It has announced that it will ban posts about Jews controlling the world; pages promoting the antisemitic Qanon conspiracy theory and posts denying or distorting the Holocaust.

Poland will end its kosher and halal meat export industry in 2025

(JTA) – Poland’s senate passed a law that will end its $1.8 billion kosher and halal meat export industry in 2025. Religious communities will still be able to slaughter meat without prior stunning, as is required by Jewish and Muslim law, as long as the meat is not for export. A vote Wednesday approved the law that was introduced last month in the government’s lower house and was originally intended to go into effect in 2022. Poland has about 20,000 Jews and a similar number of Muslims. The bulk of its many kosher and halal slaughterhouses produce meat for export. Critics say that killing animals without stunning them is cruel; proponents of the practice say it is relatively painless. Polish farmer and meat producer unions successfully fought to have the law postponed in connection with the economic crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the head of the Brussels-based European Jewish Association, which has lobbied against the Polish legislation, has argued that Poland is a major provider of kosher meat to the rest of Europe and beyond. Margolin called the amendment delaying the bill “encouraging” but said his organization will continue to fight for the scrapping of the legislation.