Need to Know for May 8

Schneiderman resigns, McCain has regrets and Jewish clergy oppose CIA nominee

Hamas leaders in Gaza reportedly have offered long-term cease-fire to Israel

Hamas leaders in Gaza have sent messages to Israel through various channels in recent months offering to negotiate a long-term cease-fire. According to a report May 7 in the Israeli daily Haaretz, Hamas wants to tie the cease-fire to an easing of the blockade on Gaza, a green light for large-scale infrastructure projects and a prisoner exchange. Israel has “not responded clearly” to the messages, according to Haaretz. Hamas reportedly is more open to discussing such a cease-fire since it is in “dire and unprecedented strategic distress,” the report said. In addition, reconciliation efforts between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority remain frozen in the wake of an assassination attempt in March on P.A. Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah during his visit to Gaza. Hamas has called on Gaza Palestinian demonstrators to continue to protest at the Gaza border as part of the March of Return protests, and has vowed that the protests will continue past what was supposed to be the end date, May 14, the date on the Gregorian calendar that marks Israel’s 70th birthday and which the Arab world calls the Nakba, or catastrophe. The Palestinian Authority also is planning a large demonstration on that day in Ramallah in the West Bank, the seat of the P.A. government. The Israeli military estimates that 70 percent of the 48 Gaza Palestinians killed in the current protests are connected to Hamas or the military wings of other terror organizations in Gaza, according to Haaretz.—JTA

NY Attorney General Resigns After Women Accuse Him of Physical Abuse

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman resigned hours after the New Yorker magazine published a report detailing allegations against him by four women who said that he physically abused them. Schneiderman announced his resignation in a statement issued on May 7. “In the last several hours, serious allegations, which I strongly contest, have been made against me,” he said in the statement. “While these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office’s work at this critical time. I therefore resign my office, effective at the close of business on May 8, 2018.” Schneiderman, 63, has been an active supporter of the #MeToo movement, including bringing legal action in New York against disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexually assaulting women. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, both Democrats like Schneiderman, called for the attorney general’s resignation immediately after the article appeared. Gillibrand had led the effort to remove Minnesota Senator Al Franken from the Senate after sexual misconduct allegations were leveled against him.

John McCain regrets not choosing Joseph Lieberman as his 2008 running mate

Sen. John McCain is using his new book and a documentary to publicly express his regret at not picking former Senate colleague Joseph Lieberman as his running mate in the 2008 presidential election, The New York Times reported. McCain wrote in the book that his advisers warned him against picking Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat who turned Independent, because of his support for abortion rights. The advisers believed that support would divide the party. “It was sound advice that I could reason for myself,” he wrote in “The Restless Wave,” according to The Times. “But my gut told me to ignore it and I wish I had.” Other Republicans believe that McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice president was responsible for “unleashing the forces of grievance politics and nativism” within the party. McCain lost to Barack Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, in the election. McCain, 81, is battling the brain cancer that he was diagnosed with last summer and for which he is undergoing aggressive treatment. He spends most of his time at his Arizona ranch. The book and a nearly two-hour HBO documentary are scheduled to come out later this month. In the documentary, McCain calls the decision not to pick Lieberman “another mistake that I made” in his political career. Lieberman, who was Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore’s running mate in 2000 — the first Jewish vice presidential nominee on a major ticket — told The Times that he didn’t know McCain felt that regret until he watched the film. According to the article, those close to McCain have told the White House that the longtime senator plans for Vice President Mike Pence to attend the funeral service to be held in Washington’s National Cathedral but not President Donald Trump.–JTA

Nearly 250 Jewish clergy oppose Trump’s CIA nominee, citing torture record

Nearly 250 Jewish clergy have signed a petition opposing President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the CIA, citing her role in the George W. Bush-era torture of prisoners. “Given (Gina) Haspel’s role in the CIA’s now-defunct torture program, a vote to confirm her is incompatible with any kind of meaningful commitment to the prohibition on torture and so-called ‘enhanced interrogation,’” said the petition to be sent to the Senate, which had garnered 245 signatures by the evening of May 7, two days before Haspel’s confirmation hearings. “Her oversight of a CIA black site is an extreme moral offense that overrides any other qualifications she might have to serve as the head of the CIA.” The petition was organized by T’ruah, a rabbinical human rights group with 2,000 affiliated cantors and rabbis across the Jewish religious spectrum. Haspel, currently the deputy CIA director, would replace Mike Pompeo, whom Trump recently named as secretary of state.

There Were 4.2 Million Anti-Semitic Tweets in 2017, Report Says

The Anti-Defamation League estimated that there were 4.2 million anti-Semitic tweets out of the trillions posted on Twitter over a yearlong period. In a report released May 7 and timed with its annual Washington conference, the civil rights group’s Center on Extremism said its experts estimated “that the tweets were issued by approximately three million unique handles,” or accounts, in the period between Jan. 29, 2017, and Jan. 28, 2018. The report, the first by ADL on anti-Semitic tweets, estimated the numbers ranged between 36,800 in the week of July 23-29 and 181,700 in the week of Dec. 3-9. It said there was no obvious detectable reason for the discrepancy. The program searched for classic anti-Semitic stereotypes, like greedy bankers, despoilers of racial purity, God killers; anti-Semitic pejoratives, Holocaust denial; and praise for anti-Semitic figures. It did not focus on criticism of Israel except when it was cast according to the identified stereotypes or conspiracy theories. Among the recurring themes the study uncovered were Jews as sexual predators, particularly relating to the allegations that movie mogul Harvey Weinstein had harassed and assaulted a number of women; age-old smears alleging that the Rothschilds control the world; references to Zionists as “racist warmongers who control the U.S. government and the media”; Holocaust denial; and claims that the billionaire philanthropist George Soros was behind “false flag” events meant to advance his liberal agenda. The study said that one noteworthy development was the prolific use of the term “globalist” as an anti-Semitic slur.

Independent Chicago Jewish Star newspaper closes

The Chicago Jewish Star, an independent family-run newspaper, has published its final edition. The for-profit biweekly, which launched in February 1991, shut down May 4 due to the industrywide decline in advertising, its owners said. Douglas Wertheimer, who served as editor, and his wife, Gila, the associate and literary editor, owned the paper. Their son, Aaron, was the assistant editor. The paper, which was based in Skokie, Ill., won awards in city and state journalism competitions. It first appeared as The Jewish Star of Alberta, Canada, which published Calgary and Edmonton editions from 1980 to 1990.—JTA

J-Word of the Day
Metsieh (Yiddish)
Meaning: A bargain
Usage: Believe me, the deal I have for you is a real metsieh.

JBiz

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