Trump Blames Israel for the Midterms
On 60 Minutes, he called it "a great dislike." Also: a D.C. synagogue's screening worked.
Eight Illinois towns voted against the state's anti-BDS law. Oak Park and seven townships passed nonbinding measures last week urging repeal of the 2015 law barring state pension investment in companies that boycott Israel. Oak Park's measure got about 65%. "We would have much preferred a victory," said Dan Goldwin of Chicago's Jewish United Fund, which campaigned against it. 1
A Manhattan rabbi says "the Golden Age of American Jewry" is over. Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue said it in his sermon Friday, pointing to midterm winners like Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed who oppose the U.S.-Israel alliance. The NYPD's October count, released Monday, was 26 confirmed hate crimes against Jews. 2
The 26th Knesset is sworn in Tuesday. Of its 120 members, 46 are first-timers. They include Noam Tibon, the retired general who set out alone on October 7 to rescue his son's family from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, and Yonatan Shalev, 24, who would be Israel's youngest lawmaker ever. 3
Hero: Washington Hebrew Congregation's security team. Before Saturday services in D.C., screeners found a loaded, unregistered revolver on a visitor and held him for police. Tyler Finn, 32, who came with a Liberty University religious studies class, faces weapons charges; police said it did not appear to be an attempted attack. Rusty Rosenthal of the local Jewish federation called it "security done right." 4
Villain: Donald Trump. On 60 Minutes, the president blamed his party's midterm losses partly on "a great dislike, incredibly, for Israel." He said he didn't disagree with JD Vance's post urging a change in U.S. ties with Israel; he'd told Vance to "write what you feel." Our view: a president who says Israel cost his party votes hands every Israel-hater a talking point with his signature on it. 5
Tuesday is Rosh Chodesh Kislev, Hanukkah's month, and this week's parsha is Toldot. Kristallnacht ran through the night of November 9 to 10, 1938. Nazis burned more than 1,400 synagogues, then ordered Jews to pay a fine of one billion Reichsmarks, called an "atonement payment." 67
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