Hello *|FNAME|*,

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the international community to “step up the struggle against anti-Semitism” in a statement issued in the wake of last Friday's shooting attack on a San Diego synagogue. “This is an attack on the heart of the Jewish people,” Netanyahu said of the shooting on Saturday morning at the Chabad of Poway during services for the Sabbath and the last day of Passover. One woman was killed and three people were injured, two of them Israelis who left rocket fire and violence in Sderot to come to California. The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati and the JCRC released this statement. 

The New York Times is taking disciplinary measures against a production editor who gave the go-ahead to an anti-Semitic cartoon that was published late last week. The cartoon, which appeared last Thursday in the opinion section of the newspaper’s international print edition, depicted Netanyahu as a dachshund guide dog, wearing a Star of David collar and leading a yarmulke-clad US President Donald Trump. In response, the Times will be updating their "unconscious bias training” to include “direct focus on anti-Semitism." The cartoonist behind the drawing has rejected charges of antisemitism, calling critics part of the “Jewish propaganda machine.” JCRC and the Federation signed onto this national letter asking the Times for a concrete explanation and corrective steps. 

On Thursday, Israelis across the country stood at silent attention as sirens wailed, signifying Holocaust Remembrance Day. On Wednesday evening, as Holocaust Remembrance Day began, Netanyahu and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin were on hand at the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem to lay a wreath in memory of the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis during the course of World War II. The day is marked by educational programs at schools and public institutions, and commemorative ceremonies at army bases and throughout the country, including at the Yad Vashem memorial for the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. At the Knesset, the names of Holocaust victims are recited throughout the day.

Roughly 2,500 Palestinians protested at the Gaza Strip border today as part of what Palestinians call 'March of Return,' Maariv reported. IDF forces were shot upon by Palestinian snipers, one soldier was wounded and his condition is unclear at the moment. Prior to the protests, the Israel Air Force bombed targets in Gaza  in response to hundreds of incendiary balloons that Hamas launched at Israel on Wednesday. 

Israel's 21st Knesset was ceremoniously sworn in on Tuesday, including its 49 new members, while Rivlin urged for unity and mutual respect. At the opening ceremony, Rivlin criticized the heated campaigns that preceded the April 9 elections, and pleaded MKs to put aside all differences, stop slamming their political rivals, and have clean and honest debates, which he called "the only thing that gives this home (of ours) a right to exist, and its status as a Jewish and democratic country a strong base."

Shabbat Shalom,

Jackie Congedo, Director, JCRC

Shep Englander, CEO, Jewish Federation of Cincinnati

P.S. If you or a friend would like to get our own, up-to-the-minute Israel Update, you can sign up here; when asked for "interests" click "weekly Israel Update."