H eadlines
NEWSBRIEFS British Labour Party Suspends 14 Members for
Alleged Antisemitism
THE LABOUR PARTY in Britain suspended 14
members for alleged antisemitic rhetoric, JTA reported.

In addition, a Conservative Party spokesperson
said the party will suspend a Cambridge politician for
similar remarks.

Seven of the Labor lawmakers are on the govern-
ment councils of the City of Peterborough and North
Cambridgeshire, municipalities north of London, the
Jewish News reported.

The report didn’t specify what the councilors said,
wrote or did to prompt the allegations, nor how they
reacted to it.

Labour and Conservative spokespeople said the
suspensions are part of zero tolerance policies toward
antisemitic rhetoric in their ranks.

Under former leader Jeremy Corbyn, antisemitic
rhetoric became more common with Labour. His successor,
Keir Starmer, suspended Corbyn from the party.

Paris to Name Street for Sarah Halimi
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the city will inaugu-
rate in its historic Jewish quarter a street named for
Sarah Halimi, whose killing has drawn protests over
the way authorities handled it, JTA reported.

Halimi’s alleged killer, a 31-year-old Muslim man
with a history of antisemitic behavior, won’t stand
trial because the high court ruled that the marijuana
he smoked before the murder made him temporarily
psychotic. Previous rulings found that Kobili Traore
was motivated partly by his hatred of Jews
“We need to honor Sarah Halimi’s memory. And
that’s what we’ll do,” Hidalgo said in a statement.

“There will be a Sarah Halimi Street. It will be a way
of achieving justice for her.”
The street will be in the 4th District, which before
the Holocaust was the heart of Jewish life in Paris. It
also is known as the Marais.

academics and authors such as Stephen Pinker and
Daniel Gordis; and leading rabbis like David Wolpe
of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, who is the son of the
late longtime Har Zion Temple Rabbi Gerald Wolpe.

“Jewish tradition cherishes debate, respects
disagreement, and values questions as well as
answers,” the letter says. “We members of the Jewish
community add our voices to the growing chorus
supporting our liberal principles, opposing the
imposition of ideology, encouraging open discussions
of challenging topics, and committing to achieving a
more just America.”
Prominent Jews Sign ‘Jewish Harper’s Letter’
About 50 prominent Jewish Americans signed an
open letter warning of the rise of “social justice
ideology,” JTA reported.

The social justice ideology is described as a “perni-
cious” force that is “antithetical to Judaism” and
threatens to stifle free debate and democratic values
in the United States.

Organizers of a new initiative called the Jewish
Institute for Liberal Values said they were inspired by last
year’s Harper’s letter, which made a similar argument
about public censorship of unpopular opinions.

Signatories include prominent conservative
writers Bret Stephens, Bari Weiss and Seth Mandel;
Hate Crimes Up 73% in NYC Thus Far in 2021,
Asians and Jews Targeted Most Frequently
The number of hate crimes reported in New York City
between Jan. 1 and May 2 climbed 73% compared to a
year ago, JTA reported.

Jews were targets of 54 hate crimes, down from 58
incidents in the same period in 2020, according to
New York Police Department statistics.

But Asians, who were targeted 16 times in that
period in 2020, were targets 80 times this year.

In all, there were 180 hate crimes through May 2
in New York City, compared to 104 such crimes in the
same period in 2020. l
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
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