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Articles written by mike wagenheim


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  • Jewish Federations' Mark Wilf reflects on mission to Poland-Ukraine border to assist refugees

    Mike Wagenheim|Apr 1, 2022

    (JNS) - The first organized humanitarian mission of the North American Jewish community for Ukrainians will be far from the last. This past week, a mission organized by the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) traveled to the Ukraine-Poland border to visit with refugees and evaluate needs on the ground. The task is overwhelming, but something the Federations are working on in tight coordination with its global partners. "It was an important and eye-opening experience to go. We had...

  • Israeli distributor takes Ben & Jerry's to court

    Mike Wagenheim|Mar 11, 2022

    (JNS) — Avi Zinger was so upset after Ben & Jerry’s pulled the rug out from under him that he never picked up the phone to speak with them. Instead, he’s taking them, and their parent company Unilever, to a U.S. district court. The longtime Israeli manufacturer and distributor of the Vermont-based ice cream company’s products wants his license agreement renewed, and damages for the losses he’s suffered since Ben & Jerry’s succumbed to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, and refused to renew its agreement with Zinger unless he b...

  • Simon Wiesenthal Center calls for FBI antisemitism task force

    Mike Wagenheim|Mar 4, 2022

    (JNS) — Neo-Nazis in Florida. Synagogue desecration in Chicago. Regular assaults in Brooklyn, N.Y. When it comes to antisemitism in America, it’s time to start connecting the dots. “If we’re going to better understand the nature and scope of the threats, we need the FBI to lead, taking everyone out of their silo, getting all the information that they’re uniquely positioned to get, and then having a desk that’s going to review things and have access to other agencies — domestic and otherwise — in order for us to quantify and qualify what’s...

  • Pro-Israel Democrats tout record on supporting Jewish state

    Mike Wagenheim|Feb 18, 2022

    (JNS) — When Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid took office in June, his first call to an American organization was not to one of the legacy Jewish groups or umbrella organizations of American Jewry. It was to Democratic Majority for Israel. DFMI is an advocacy group that supports pro-Israel policies in the Democratic Party and pro-Israel Democratic candidates. During that call, Lapid emphasized reinvigorating Israel’s ties with the Democratic Party. Of course, it’s no coincidence that DMFI...

  • 'Maus' author to Federation forum: Parental control, whitewashing led to book

    Mike Wagenheim|Feb 18, 2022

    (JNS) — Yet again, those who wanted to learn about Maus had to leapfrog obstacles. This time, it wasn’t the limitations of parental consent. It was the limitations of technology. More than 10,000 viewers flooded into an online discussion with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Art Spiegelman on Monday to hear him speak about last month’s removal of his iconic Holocaust graphic novel Maus from a Tennessee school board’s curriculum. The public response to the Zoom session, hosted by the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga, was greater than th...

  • Blinken: The stakes of Ukraine-Russia situation are of global consequence

    Mike Wagenheim|Feb 4, 2022

    (JNS) - At a crucial moment for U.S. President Joe Biden's foreign policy, U.S. Secretary of State Blinken held a virtual policy session with an Atlanta synagogue on Monday night, where tensions regarding a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine's borders were front and center. China was also discussed as another threat to America's interests. The lecture, titled "21st Century Global Challenges Facing the U.S.", was moderated by Stuart Eizenstat, the U.S. Special Adviser on Holocaust Issues, who...

  • Israeli apartheid comparison spurs call for 'moral clarity' in weighing Desmond Tutu's legacy

    Mike Wagenheim|Jan 7, 2022

    (JNS) — As tributes from across the globe poured in earlier this week following the passing of South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, many Israel supporters note the paradox of a man they say fought a heroic battle against apartheid in South Africa, then invented it in Israel. Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, passed away at the age of 90 on Sunday. “I think it would be a mistake to lionize him. On the one hand, he fought apartheid in South Africa, and on the other hand, he fought the right of Jewish people to national self-...