Jewish Telegraphic Agency

When the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia first got wind of a planned “boycott bike ride” of six Jewish- and Israeli-owned restaurants scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 8, its CEO wondered if the result would be “a small pebble” or “a big boulder.” The protest ultimately drew some 300 bikers. But thanks to communal organizing among dozens of Jewish, pro-Israel and interfaith groups, it was met with an estimated 200 counter-protesters — plus hundreds more who turned up, waiting in hours-long lines, to patronize the affected businesses. “I honestly had a hard time hearing what the boycotters were saying,” Michael Balaban, the federation head, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency the day after the protests. They were drowned out, he said, by counter-demonstrators singing Israeli songs. Full story here: https://www.jta.org/2026/11/09/united-states/philadelphia-jewish-leaders-encouraged-by-counter-response-to-boycott-bike-ride

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Ahmed Moor, a Palestinian-American writer who has worked with anti-Zionists, is the first Democrat to challenge Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman in the 2028 primary. Fetterman, who has faced sharp criticism from within the Democratic Party for his staunch support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, has yet to announce whether he plans to run in 2028. A defeat or retirement would remove one of the Democratic caucus’s most pro-Israel voices. Moor, 42, enters the playing field with radically different positions on Israel, and on foreign policy in general, from those Fetterman has promoted. Claiming that the United States “funds wars based on corruption and lies and has turned its back on its own people,” Moor pledged on his campaign website to ensure “this never happens again.” Full story here: https://www.jta.org/2026/11/09/politics/palestinian-american-to-challenge-john-fetterman-for-senate-seat-in-2028

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Sen. Jon Ossoff’s soaring popularity and cruise to reelection last Tuesday have spurred speculation about his political future — and whether he might aim to become the first Jewish president of the United States. Less than an hour after polls closed on Election Night, he was projected to handily defeat his Republican challenger Mike Collins. With a campaign focused on expanding affordability and fighting corruption, Ossoff built a broad coalition in one of the nation’s most diverse states, even earning endorsements from Republicans. Ultimately, he retained his seat by a margin of 59% to 41%. The leading polling analyst Nate Silver said Saturday that Ossoff was his “slam dunk number one pick” for a Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, despite Ossoff’s insistence that he has “zero interest in running for president.” Full story here: https://www.jta.org/2026/11/10/politics/jon-ossoff-romped-to-a-second-senate-term-can-he-aim-higher

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Start off your week updated and ready to go by catching up on our Israeli Election podcast Waiting for 61 🎧 Join Ami Eden, CEO of JTA’s parent organization, 70 Faces Media, and Ruth Eglash, JTA’S senior Israel correspondent, every weekday as they break down the personalities, power struggles and political calculations shaping Israel’s future. 🎧 Listen at the link in bio.

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Former secretaries of state Antony Blinken and Mike Pompeo both downplayed the potential end of American military aid to Israel on Sunday, insisting such a development would not harm U.S.-Israel ties during a joint appearance in Washington. Speaking at the Jewish Federations of North America’s annual General Assembly, both men also defended Israel’s security and its need to defend itself in the wake of the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, condemning voices who try to equate Israel’s actions with those of Hamas and accuse it of committing genocide. But Blinken, who was secretary of state in the Biden administration at the time, also didn’t spare Jerusalem from criticism over its conduct of the war. Following Oct. 7, “the Israelis did, for the most part, the bare minimum of what they felt they needed to do for people who were stuck in the middle of this crossfire in Gaza,” he said. “There was a certain amount of disregard, a certain amount of disdain for the well-being of the Palestinian civilians.” Full story here: https://www.jta.org/2026/11/09/united-states/blinken-pompeo-strong-u-s-israel-ties-assistance-to-continue-despite-trump-call-to-end-aid

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Israeli President Isaac Herzog tasked Gadi Eisenkot on Sunday with forming Israel’s next government, giving him up to six weeks to assemble a coalition with a total of 61 seats out of 120 in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. If he fails to do so, then the president can give another Knesset member the opportunity; most likely this will be incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. For his part, Netanyahu, has urged Eisenkot to join him in an emergency national unity government that will keep Israel strong against ongoing threats. Eisenkot has responded that the “national emergency government” he will form will comprise the “four Zionist parties” of the change bloc – his own Yashar Party, B’Yachad headed by former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beitenu Party and the Democrats under Yair Golan. He also said he would welcome “parties and Knesset members who support Yashar’s four principles” to join the coalition. Full story here: https://www.jta.org/2026/11/08/israel/explainer-gadi-eisenkots-four-conditions-for-forming-israels-next-government

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One of the last surviving Jewish witnesses of Kristallnacht told German police leaders they have an “enormous responsibility” to learn the lessons of the past. George Shefi, 94, this week returned to the city of his birth to share his story with senior law enforcement representatives from Germany, the United States, and other European countries at the city’s New Synagogue, a target of the Nazi-spurred mobs on Kristallnacht. The event held Thursday, titled “Not on Our Watch: Operationalizing Never Again,” marked the 88th anniversary of the pogrom. “I have come here at this time to say that Germany’s responsibility to preserve the memory of the Holocaust is eternal,” Shefi told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in an interview before the event. He does not believe today’s generations of Germans are “guilty of what happened,” but nonetheless said they “have an enormous responsibility and a duty to learn from the past to ensure that it never happens again.” Shefi was almost seven when the Nazis unleashed violent pogroms across Germany on the night of Nov. 9, 1938, in which the Berlin synagogue that housed his school was burned to the ground. Full story here: https://www.jta.org/2026/11/06/global/kristallnacht-survivor-calls-on-german-police-to-stand-firm-against-hate

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Jewish American voters listed the future of democracy as their top issue in the 2026 midterm elections, with antisemitism ranked third, according to a new national survey by J Street on Thursday. The liberal Jewish Middle East policy group released its poll of national Jewish voters, which surveyed 800 people from Oct. 28 to Nov. 3. It found that 44% of respondents named the future of democracy as a key issue, while 21% named antisemitism (the third-most-popular response) and 14% cited Israel (the fifth-most-popular). The second ranked issue was the cost of living, at 34%. Jewish voter breakdown by party, both overall and on levels of individual denominations, was also consistent with past elections, with 72% of respondents voting for Democratic congressional candidates and disapproving of President Donald Trump. Orthodox voters trended more Republican and pro-Trump. Full story here: https://www.jta.org/2026/11/05/politics/j-street-says-democracy-was-top-jewish-voter-concern-in-midterms-not-israel-or-antisemitism

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What factor did Israel play in the US midterm elections l? Find out on Waiting for 61! 🗳️ Join Ami Eden, CEO of JTA’s parent organization, 70 Faces Media, and Ruth Eglash, JTA’S senior Israel correspondent, every weekday as they break down the personalities, power struggles and political calculations shaping Israel’s future. 🎧 Catch up on the latest episodes now! Listen at the link in bio.

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In high school, Blake J. Harris’s yearbook quote was from “Seinfeld,” and he wrote his college admissions essay about the show’s final episode. “Seinfeld,” he says, is why he became a writer. “It made me fall in love with storytelling,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in a recent interview. Little wonder, then, that after he became a journalist and documentarian, he long dreamed of writing a biography of Larry David, the co-creator of “Seinfeld” and creator and star of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” After a six-year journey that included many FaceTime calls with David and even an appearance in the series finale of “Curb,” Harris wrote “Emperor of Nothing: The Making of Larry David,” which came out last month. Full story here: https://www.jta.org/2026/11/05/culture/a-biographer-tried-get-larry-david-to-talk-about-his-jewishness-nothing-doing

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The Jewish center did not hold in the midterm elections because the Jewish center is a thing of the past, especially when it comes to Israel. This is true not just among the Jewish politicians returning to Congress from across the partisan spectrum; the eight newly elected Jewish Democrats vastly differ on Israel. Should Israel get offensive weapons? No, says Brad Lander, newly elected Jewish Democratic congressman from New York. Absolutely, says Elaine Luria, newly elected Jewish Democratic congresswoman from Virginia Beach. Luria, who lost the district in 2022, flipped it back on Tuesday. For decades, the Jewish caucus in Congress was a cohesive unit, the go-to destination for Republican and Democratic leaders who wanted its approval for issues of special interest to Jewish Americans – chief among them, Israel. Full story here: https://www.jta.org/2026/11/05/politics/from-israel-hawks-to-genocide-the-jewish-center-no-longer-holds-in-congress

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What is stalling the coalition building process? We’ve got the latest updates on Waiting for 61 🎧 Join Ami Eden, CEO of JTA’s parent organization, 70 Faces Media, and Ruth Eglash, JTA’S senior Israel correspondent, every weekday as they break down the personalities, power struggles and political calculations shaping Israel’s future. 🎧 Catch up on the latest episodes now! Listen at the link in bio.

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President Donald Trump on Tuesday morning said that the United States would halt billions of dollars in annual aid to Israel by the end of 2026, potentially ending decades of military funding for one of America’s closest allies in the Middle East. “We were giving them $4 billion. We are. But it gets cut off at the end of the year,” Trump declared during a call-in appearance on the “Fox & Friends” morning program on Fox News. Israel’s 10-year memorandum of understanding with the United States, which currently gives Israel $3.8 billion annually, runs through 2028 so it’s unclear how easy it would be for the White House to stop the funding this year. Referencing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement in January that he wanted to taper off aid to zero at some point in the future, Trump questioned why Republicans should have to deal with criticism from hardline pro-Palestinian Democrats like Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed when “we give them more than anybody else and they no longer need it.” Full story here: https://www.jta.org/2026/11/03/israel/trump-says-us-aid-to-israel-will-stop-at-end-of-year

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Less than an hour after election night exit polls were published, Mansour Abbas, the leader of the Islamist Ra’am party, whose representation was predicted to almost double, declared: “We will translate this electoral power into an influential political force … we’re here — not on the sidelines.” With all the votes now counted, Ra’am has indeed grown from five to eight seats, while the other Arab party, the Joint List, has received 11. Their combined unprecedented 19 seats out of a total of 120 in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, now make the Arab parties a powerful force and one that could potentially break the political deadlock after neither the bloc led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot have enough seats to form a governing coalition. A record number of Arab-Israelis voted in last Tuesday’s election, signaling for the first time in Israel’s history that the country’s Arab public, which makes up around 21% of the general population, is demanding to be counted in Israel’s political process. Read the full story here: https://www.jta.org/2026/11/02/israel/arab-parties-are-kingmakers-but-will-israels-jewish-leaders-accept-them

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When Marvel offered Sacha Baron Cohen the role of Mephisto, the demonic figure he played in the 2025 series “Ironheart,” the creative team behind the show had a concern. The mostly Black team, he recalled, was aware of the long history of associating Jews with the devil and wanted to make sure the Jewish actor would not be offended by the offer. “It was such an amazingly considerate, empathetic thing to say,” Baron Cohen recalled at a live taping of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast at New York’s 92nd Street Y last week. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m good.’” He then added, “I think for the Jews out there, sometimes we don’t feel seen.” Read the full story here: https://www.jta.org/2026/10/28/culture/sacha-baron-cohen-wants-to-fight-bigotry-but-is-ali-g-part-of-the-problem

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Florida Democratic Rep. Jared Moscowitz told Fox Business last month that Jews are feeling “politically homeless”: repelled by today’s Republican Party but anxious about rising antisemitism fueled by anti-Zionism on the left. Rabbi Avi Killip agreed in a recent essay in eJewishPhilanthropy. “Many American Jews feel politically homeless these days,” she wrote. Seeing antisemitism on the left and right, “it isn’t surprising that many of us are feeling abandoned and alone.” In July, Ashley Inbar, a 38-year-old Jewish Democratic voter in Maine, described her predicament in a first-person essay for the Times of Israel. “I’m a Democrat. I still am,” she wrote. “But lately, I’ve begun to feel oddly homeless. Not because my values have shifted, but because [of] the conversation around me.” Ahead of the 2026 midterms, “politically homeless” has become the Jewish label of the moment. The phrase has also surfaced on the campaign trail, in sermons and on podcasts about the future of Jewish political identity. Read the rest of Andrew Silow-Carroll opinion essay and explore even more of JTA’s Ideas section here: https://www.jta.org/2026/11/01/ideas/politically-homeless-is-the-new-mantra-for-american-jews-will-it-change-their-vote?utm_source=JTA_Iterable&utm_campaign=JTA_DB&utm_medium=email

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On a recent weeknight, a local Jewish federation official met with a small group of Jews in suburban Chicago for an election organizing event. Leaders of the group preemptively barred journalists, and anyone they deemed could be a journalist, from entry on Zoom. Chicago Jewish leaders were quietly organizing an effort with big implications: how to convince voters to defend a state law designed to shield Israel from boycotts. “It’s a fight, to put it simply,” Dan Goldwin, public affairs officer at Chicago’s Jewish United Fund, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Full story here: https://www.jta.org/2026/10/31/united-states/bds-is-on-the-ballot-in-illinois-sort-of

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Key Jewish Democratic figures denounced pro-Israel U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens’ endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat on Sunday. Some, including Michigan congressional candidate Jeremy Moss, spoke at a press conference at the United Auto Workers headquarters in Detroit to support Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed hours after Stevens endorsed Rogers across town. “I would rather debate our disagreements in a democratic institution than one that has been eroded by Trump and Rogers,” Moss, who has had his own public disagreements with El-Sayed, told the crowd. Full story here: https://www.jta.org/2026/11/01/politics/some-michigan-jewish-democrats-disavow-stevens-over-endorsement-of-el-sayeds-gop-rival

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Confused by the election results? We’re breaking down the gridlock on Waiting for 61. 🎧 Join Ami Eden, CEO of JTA’s parent organization, 70 Faces Media, and Ruth Eglash, JTA’S senior Israel correspondent, every weekday as they break down the personalities, power struggles and political calculations shaping Israel’s future. 🎧 Catch up on the latest episodes now! Listen at the link in bio.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his opponent Gadi Eisenkot will have to break their promises to their constituents if they want to form and lead Israel’s next government. Their potential political allies will have to do the same. Netanyahu’s Likud and Eisenkot’s Yashar party both garnered more votes than any of the other nine parties that met the threshold to join the next parliament. Netanyahu and the bloc of parties that ideologically align with him, however, secured only 53 of the 61 seats needed for a governing majority in the 120-seat Knesset. The Eisenkot bloc won 48. For Eisenkot, three divisive issues are likely to dominate the debate and force some politicians to renege on campaign pledges: aligning with Arab parties, mandatory military service for Haredi men and a unity government with Netanyahu. Full story here: https://www.jta.org/2026/10/29/israel/what-pledges-eisenkot-and-netanayhu-need-to-break-to-become-pm

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