H eadlines
NEWSBRIEFS Neo-Nazi Group Hangs ‘Vax the Jews’ Banner
in Austin, Texas Near a JCC
NEO-NAZI GROUP MEMBERS displayed a banner
from a bridge in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 24 that read
“Vax the Jews,” JTA reported.

The banner was hung by the Goyim Defense
League, which has been behind other antisemitic
banners hung in public places. The Anti-Defamation
League calls the group “a loose network of individ-
uals connected by their virulent antisemitism.” Social
media photos showed group members standing
behind the banner making the Nazi salute.

Austin Mayor Steve Adler, who is Jewish,
condemned the incident in a tweet.

The banner was hung a few blocks away from
the Shalom Austin Jewish Community Center and
several synagogues. The incident occurred a few days
after racist and antisemitic graffiti was discovered at
nearby Anderson High School.

Biden Names Atlanta Jewish Leader as Envoy
to United Nations Human Rights Council
President Joe Biden named a leader of the Atlanta
Jewish community to the United Nations Human
Rights Council – a body often criticized for being
hostile to Israel, JTA reported.

The Atlanta Jewish Times said Biden chose Michèle
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Taylor, who is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor,
a founder of the Or Hadash congregation outside of
Atlanta and a past member of the U.S. Holocaust
Museum Memorial Council, among other things.

The Trump administration quit the Human Rights
Council in 2018 because of what the body alleged were
Israeli human rights abuses while allowing other countries
with controversial human rights records to be members
and help set the agenda. Israel has never been on the
council and refuses to cooperate in its investigations.

Biden and past Democratic administrations
acknowledge the council’s bias but say the United
States is better served as a group member working
to advance its human rights agenda — and to tamp
down anti-Israel rhetoric.

Medieval Jewish Prayer Book Sold for $8.3M
A 700-year-old Jewish prayer book from Germany,
offered by a French Jewish organization to shore up its
finances, sold at auction on Oct. 19 for $8.3 million,
JTA reported.

Known as the Luzzatto High Holiday Mahzor, the
prayer book beat the $4-6 million presale estimate by
Sotheby’s New York auction house, with four bidders
battling for five dramatic minutes.

The item, which was sold to an unnamed private
buyer, comes from the collection of the Alliance
JEWISH EXPONENT
Israélite Universelle, a 160-year-old French Jewish
organization that operates schools in Israel, France
and Morocco.

Only one Judaica item has ever fetched more at
auction: the Bomberg Talmud from the Valmadonna
collection, which sold for $9.3 million in 2015.

Environmental Group Quits Democracy Rally
Because of Presence of ‘Zionist’ Groups
The Washington, D.C., branch of national climate
action group Sunrise DC turned down a role at a
voting rights rally because a “number of Zionist
organizations” will be taking part, JTA reported.

“Given our commitment to racial justice, self-gov-
ernance and indigenous sovereignty, we oppose
Zionism and any state that enforces its ideology,” the
group said in a statement posted Oct. 19 on Twitter.

Sunrise DC named the National Council of Jewish
Women, the Reform movement’s Religious Action
Center and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs as
groups supporting Israel.

The Freedom to Vote Relay-Rally on Oct. 23
featured a bike ride to the U.S. Capitol from West
Virginia, the home state of Democratic Sen. Joe
Manchin, who is sponsoring a voting rights act
named “Freedom to Vote.” l
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
OCTOBER 28, 2021
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