12 Dec
Culture, Latest, topics

Birthright and Bibi

By Jeremy Gillick While the economic crisis may spell Birthright's demise, New Voices editor Josh Nathan-Kazis argues that the famously free trip to Israel has already left its mark. In its December issue, Josh takes a look at Birthright's Hidden Cost. The issue also features an interview with Naomi Klein, the new darling of the left, who has been the subject of recent features in The New Yorker and in The New Republic, as well as stories on Manischewitz, the Jewish Defense League, and Jews at small, southern colleges, and a podcast on transgender issues in the Jewish community. In a provocative op-ed, Asher Berman makes the case for a strategic alliance between Iran and the United States. Read it all at New Voices.

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11 Dec
Latest

Donor's Woes Inducing Breach Birth(right)?

By Mandy Katz Birthright may have to cut back on the inspirational Israel tours it hosts for Jewish American teens, the Forward reports. A drop in the fortunes of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation threatens the financial viability of its majority stockholder, Sheldon Adelson, a major Birthright donor who last year was the world's richest Jew, according to Forbes. (His ranking has since slipped.) Birthright's officers contend Adelson will come through on his outstanding $20-million pledge to support this summer's tours. But if he doesn't, insiders told the Forward, participant numbers could fall from 25,000 to 5,000. Fertilizing not just the fields of Israel advocacy, Adelson in recent years has also spread his wealth in GOP funding circles, most notably by sinking at least $30 million into a now-collapsing advocacy group called Freedom's Watch. (That's where Ari Fleischer...

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