Jewish World

Moment‘s Israel coverage provides in-depth analysis, on-the-ground reporting, insightful interviews and more. From politics to poetry to people, Moment has everything you need to stay in the know about the state of the Jewish state.

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What Should the Anti-Semitism Czar Do?

For two years, America did not have a point person dealing with global anti-Semitism, and much has changed in that time: In Eastern Europe, attempts to blur historical facts regarding the Holocaust have increased, especially in Poland, while Hungary experienced a government-backed anti-Semitic smear campaign against George Soros. Anti-Semitic incidents in Western Europe remain on the rise, and in the UK, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party was widely denounced for failing to deal with anti-Semitism in its leadership and ranks. But the biggest shift in anti-Semitic trends did not happen in distant countries overseas. It occurred in the U.S., where white nationalist anti-Semitism reared its head, leading murderous attacks on synagogues, hateful Nazi marches and countless incidents of anti-Semitic vandalism. In addition, attacks on Jews in the New York area, many of them by African Americans, also saw an alarming surge.

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Are We All Hasidim?

In a world in which any Jew is a potential target of anti-Semitism, it is the most visible Jews who are most threatened. Jews with black hats, with tight curls hanging down below their ears and black coats and women wearing modest head coverings, they are the most vulnerable. Jews in synagogues. In Brooklyn, as in Jersey City and Monsey, violence against individuals in their Hasidic communities is almost an everyday event. If someone wants to do harm to a Jew, Hasidic Jews and their communities are and have become easy targets.

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Qassem Soleimani and the 2020 Elections

An attack that lasted less than a minute on Thursday night marked a new phase in America’s standing in the Middle East. What was until that moment a tense standoff between the Trump administration and the Ayatollahs in Tehran turned into a rapidly escalating conflict, which could lead to anything from a cycle of attacks and counter-attacks to an all-out war.

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Donald Trump: Causing a Frenzy and Making Friends in the Jewish World

With a single stroke of his presidential sharpie, Donald Trump sent the entire Jewish world into a frenzy, debating whether America’s 45th president had just changed the definition of Judaism in America from a religion to a nationality or race. He did not. The executive order Trump had signed on Wednesday includes nothing to indicate such a shift. The only change that could result from Trump’s executive order, which adopted a broader definition of anti-Semitism, is an easier time for those wishing to go after colleges for creating a hostile environment for pro-Israel students.

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The Israelization of Judaism: An Interview with Yossi Shain

Yossi Shain is a Professor of Political Science at Tel Aviv University and a Professor of Comparative Government and Diaspora Politics at Georgetown University. His most recent book, The Israeli Century and the Israelization of Judaism, is currently a bestseller in Israel and will come out in English in 2020. Moment senior editor Laurence Wolff interviewed Shain in Tel Aviv. 

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