The Latest From @MacTaskForce
19-year-old Cornell student Austin Franco reportedly rejected an interview with Jewish-owned real estate software company, VryFlD, writing on a job board site that he was “not interested in working for a Jew.”
The NY Post reports that Cornell has since opened an investigation into the incident.
When this kind of hatred is expressed so casually, it shows how normalized antisemitism has become in mainstream society.
Jewish students and professionals deserve to be able to study, work, and participate in public life without being subject to bigotry just because they’re Jewish.
German-Spanish investor Dr. Raphael Nagel has launched a limited-edition kosher “Black Forest” gin, and 60% of the profits are being directed to support Jewish life in Spain. He told the Jerusalem Post that the funds will help pay for lawyers to prosecute offenders who have committed anti-Jewish crimes, psychologists to support victims, and protection for Jewish communities under growing pressure, especially in Barcelona.
The gin, called Bereshit Serie, is being framed not just as a luxury collectible but as a concrete way to strengthen Jewish continuity and help communities fight back against rising hostility. In a time when Jewish life in Europe is increasingly under attack, efforts that combine creativity, philanthropy, and practical support deserve attention.
Stephen A. Smith shared a heartfelt message with Israelis during last night’s Knicks game. He loves Israel and has a deep appreciation for the people he’s met from there, and he hopes to visit one day.
At a time when so much of the conversation about Israel is dominated by hostility and demonization, public voices expressing warmth, friendship, and basic human solidarity matter. Israelis are still going through a great deal, and hearing that kind of support from abroad is not insignificant.
Support for Israel doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes it starts with just recognizing the humanity of its people.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained that UNRWA will play no role in the new humanitarian aid effort in Gaza.
Instead, a broader coalition of groups on the ground will lead delivery efforts, including other UN bodies, such as the World Food Programme, along with NGOs and humanitarian organizations like Samaritan’s Purse. He drew a firm line around UNRWA, which he described as having become a “subsidiary of Hamas.”
It matters which groups are allowed to provide “humanitarian aid,” to Gazans so that the humanitarian aid actually reaches civilians. Millions of dollars in aid cannot continue flowing through institutions that have been compromised.
Federal prosecutors have unsealed charges against eight pro-Palestinian activists associated with the University of Michigan, alleging they conspired to intimidate university officials, police, businesses, and the Jewish Federation of Detroit in an effort to pressure the university to cut financial ties connected to Israel.
According to the indictment, the campaign included threats, vandalism, and targeted acts meant to create fear and coerce institutional action.
Political protest is protected. Threats and intimidation are not.
Jewish students and communities should never be forced to live under threat because extremists believe criminal behavior is justified.
Accountability matters, and so does calling hatred what it is.
Congressman Jared Moskowitz is cosponsoring bipartisan legislation aimed at strengthening protections for Jewish students, Jewish institutions, and Jewish communities at a time of rising antisemitic threats and violence.
The Jewish American Security Act would increase support for campus protections, strengthen enforcement against antisemitic harassment and discrimination, and expand security resources for Jewish institutions facing real-world threats.
Jewish students deserve to learn openly and safely, without fear of intimidation, harassment, or violence.
Protecting them should not be controversial.
An immigration judge has ordered the deportation of Columbia anti-Israel activist Mohsen Mahdawi to Jordan, though he has already appealed the decision.
Mahdawi, who co-founded Columbia’s Palestinian Student Union and played a major role in the campus protests, has lived in the US for more than a decade and was reportedly close to gaining citizenship when the Trump administration detained him last year.
Lord Ian Austin raised an essential point about the extraordinary double standard applied to Israel in the UK Parliament. While Britain faces major challenges domestically, Parliament has spent a wildly disproportionate amount of time fixating on the world’s only Jewish state in a way that is plainly out of step with reality.
Israel is being singled out, judged by standards applied to no other country, and falsely accused of unique evil, and this fuels the antisemitism that British Jews are now facing in daily life.
