National

Liberal Michigan rabbis and other Jewish leaders are calling on the Democratic Party to agree to a list of “nonnegotiable” principles about Jewish safety and Israel as the party’s US Senate candidate in the state, Abdul El-Sayed, seeks to make inroads with Jewish voters.

Gloria Steinem, the feminist who turbocharged the women’s rights movement and cast the liberation of women as part of the broader project of eliminating other bigotries, died at 92.

California is poised to become the first state to deem “Jewish identity” an ethnic and racial identity, after lawmakers gave final approval to the groundbreaking legislation on Aug. 31. The SB 1387 bill expands the definition of ethnicity “to include Jewish identity” in demographic data collection.

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Michigan, apologized on Aug. 29 for his response to the March 12 attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani met with a group of rabbis on Aug. 10 for roughly an hour.The rabbis’ report on the meeting differed greatly from the report of the executive director of Mamdani’s office to combat anti-Semitism, Phylissa Wisdom.

A federal judge threw out the Trump administration’s lawsuit that accused Harvard University of having “turned a blind eye” to Jewish and Israeli students.

A major fire at Agri-Star, one of the largest kosher meat processing plants in the US is poised to increase the price of kosher meat ahead of the High Holidays, in addition to devastating the plant’s local community.

Vice President JD Vance has lost the confidence of many Jewish Republicans, who have taken issue with his rep- rimanding Israeli officials, indulgence of anti-Israel stances and silence on Tucker Carlson, the prominent pundit who has turned against Israel.

To the dismay and disappointment of many in the local Jewish and pro-Israel community, the Colorado Democrats who represent the state in the US House of Representatives voted to block some $3 billion in funding to Israel. The so-called “Massie amendment” to the national security appropriations act, introduced by Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, failed 314 to 104.

A majority of House Democrats, including all Colorado Democrats in the House, voting on July 22 backed Rep. Thomas Massie’s amendment to cut military aid to Israel. The amendment was soundly defeated after getting no support from Republicans with the exception of its sponsor, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who has made his disagreement with his party on Israel a signature issue.