nation / world
The Sackler name was on many institutions, including this wing at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City that houses the famed
Egyptian Temple of Dendur.

Sacklers, Jewish Family Behind OxyContin, Will Pay $6B in Deal
Shielding Them from Lawsuits
The Sackler family, the Jewish billionaires whose marketing of the painkiller drug
OxyContin fueled the United States’ ongoing opioid epidemic, will receive full immu-
nity from all civil legal claims in exchange for spending up to $6 billion on addiction
treatment and prevention programs, JTA.org reported.

The decision to grant immunity by a federal appeals court panel on May 30
effectively ends the thousands of civil lawsuits that have been filed against Purdue
Pharma, the Sacklers’ company, over opioid deaths.

But it clears the way for the company to declare bankruptcy, a move considered
essential to a plan to pay out billions of dollars to help states and communities
address the opioid crisis.

The Sackler name was a regular presence in philanthropic circles until the opioid
lawsuits began building up in 2019, at which point many cultural institutions began refus-
ing the family’s donations and removing their name from buildings. The Jewish artist and
activist Nan Goldin spearheaded a grassroots movement opposing the family for years.

One notable beneficiary of the Sacklers, Tel Aviv University, has resisted pressure
to drop the Sackler name from its medical school — though the American-facing
wing of its medical school quietly removed the Sackler name from its marketing
materials last year.

arrived in the country ahead of the Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City on
June 4, where he marched as part of a delegation of Israeli government officials.

An activist movement led by Israeli expatriates who oppose the Israeli govern-
ment’s proposed weakening of the judiciary, called UnXeptable, vowed to
protest the parade delegation. A local chapter of that movement showed up at
the event in L.A. and, like the anti-government street protesters in Israel, chanted
“Shame” in Hebrew.

“I have to apologize on behalf of the minister,” Hillel Newman, the Israeli consul
general in LA, said at the event. “In the end, he decided he’s not coming. He said
that he felt that his presence here might cause more provocations of the people
outside and the protesters, and he said he didn’t want to bring a bad feeling or
bad vibes to anything associated with him and the state of Israel.”
Protester with Israeli Flag Storms Stage at Roger Waters Concert
in Frankfurt
A man rushed the stage and unfurled an Israeli flag at a Roger Waters concert
in Frankfurt on May 28 in protest of the former Pink Floyd frontman’s continued
criticism of Israel, JTA.org reported.

Video circulating on social media showed a group of fans chanting “Am Yisrael
Chai” (“The people of Israel live”) while the protester makes it to the main stage,
where he lasts a few seconds before security guards chase him away.

Since at least last week, Berlin police have been investigating Waters over a
costume he has been wearing at concerts for years that includes a long black
trench coat with a red armband. Some say the outfit is reminiscent of a Nazi officer
uniform and a glorification of the Third Reich, which is outlawed in Germany. ■
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
Spencer Platt/Getty Images via JTA.org
Israeli Health Ministry Calls Out Elon Musk for Sharing ‘Fake
News’ on COVID-19
Israel’s health ministry tweeted that Elon Musk was engaging with “fake news”
regarding COVID-19 data, the third Israeli government ministry to comment on the
Twitter owner’s views in recent weeks, JTA.org reported.

Musk had replied to a tweet from Zero Hedge, a far-right blog site that features
conspiracy theories and has been accused of spreading Russian propaganda. The
tweet claimed Israeli data showed “zero young healthy individuals died of COVID-
19.” The billionaire businessman wrote “Zero …”
In response, the health ministry wrote: “Elon, unfortunately this is not what the
whole data shows. fake news is dangerous. Israel Ministry of Health was asked on
chronic disease data and explained that we don’t have access to clinical records.”
Twitter added a note to the Zero Hedge tweet that noted that Israel’s health
ministry “has called this article ‘misinformation.’”
Israeli Minister Cancels LA Speech Due to Protests and ‘Bad Vibes’
An Israeli government minister canceled a speech in Los Angeles in the face of
a protest, in part over what the local Israeli consul described as “bad vibes,” JTA.

org reported.

Ofir Akunis, Israel’s science and technology minister and a member of Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, was due to speak on May 30 at an
event at BioscienceLA, a Los Angeles-area center for life science innovation. He
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