Author | Lightnews

Jake Wasserman @jacobhwasserman.bsky.social · 19h

of course, thanks for reading the story and engaging with it

Reposted by Jake Wasserman

Jacob Kornbluh @jacobkornbluh.bsky.social · 22h

🚨 BIG 🚨Satmar Ahronim sect is endorsing Mamdani for mayor, two sources familiar confirmed.

Mamdani is expected to meet with Satmar leaders in Williamsburg this afternoon.

Here is more background ⬇️ forward.com/fast-forward...

Why Satmar Hasidic leaders endorsed Zohran Mamdani as mayor, stunning many Jewish voters

The Satmar Hasidic community’s endorsement of Zohran Mamdani for NYC mayor shows the broad coalition built by the democratic socialist and Muslim.

forward.com

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Jake Wasserman @jacobhwasserman.bsky.social · 1d

there’s a section of the story that gets into the response towards protesters, though the man i spoke with had the charges against him dropped.

it’s complicated by a patchwork of laws in different states where a form of expression is possibly permitted, for example in Berlin, but not in Frankfurt

Jake Wasserman @jacobhwasserman.bsky.social · 1d

thanks for reading!

Reposted by Jake Wasserman

Jake Wasserman @jacobhwasserman.bsky.social · 3d

I went to Germany to speak with both Jews and non-Jewish Germans who are doing the work of bringing memory culture to life — and to learn how Germany's commitment to remember the Holocaust is being strained by the post-Oct. 7 and far-right politics.

Thanks to @boellus.bsky.social for their support.

How Germany's Holocaust remembrance culture kicked off a democratic crisis

Germany’s Holocaust remembrance culture has been strained by Oct. 7 and the rise of the far-right. What happens if Germany loses its memory?

forward.com

3 10 23

Jake Wasserman @jacobhwasserman.bsky.social · 2d

The right wing ideological war over Jews would be interesting if it weren't so predictable

Tucker Carlson’s interview with far-right antisemite Nick Fuentes divides conservatives

Heritage Foundation defended former Fox News host, others slammed him for platforming white supremacist

www.theguardian.com

Jake Wasserman @jacobhwasserman.bsky.social · 3d

Anyway please read and share my story, I worked on it all year and it’s the capstone of my years at the Forward

Jake Wasserman @jacobhwasserman.bsky.social · 3d

Damn the engagement is ramping up here so I can’t delete, but I meant “both* post-Oct. 7 and far-right politics”

Jake Wasserman @jacobhwasserman.bsky.social · 3d

I went to Germany to speak with both Jews and non-Jewish Germans who are doing the work of bringing memory culture to life — and to learn how Germany's commitment to remember the Holocaust is being strained by the post-Oct. 7 and far-right politics.

Thanks to @boellus.bsky.social for their support.

How Germany's Holocaust remembrance culture kicked off a democratic crisis

Germany’s Holocaust remembrance culture has been strained by Oct. 7 and the rise of the far-right. What happens if Germany loses its memory?

forward.com

1

Jake Wasserman @jacobhwasserman.bsky.social · 3d

The people fighting back against Holocaust distortion and the growth of the right in the former East have seemingly only been able to do that effectively amongst the generation who had Nazi parents.

And according to them, the kids are not alright.

While waiting at the bus stop to head back from Buchenwald, I found myself unexpectedly sandwiched in the middle of a high school tour group as they posed for a class photo. After we all boarded the bus, about half of them sat quietly — maybe contemplating the horrors they’d just seen, maybe dozing off. But as we drove down the hill toward Weimar, the bus also filled with the sound of laughter.

Jake Wasserman @jacobhwasserman.bsky.social · 3d

And though it ended up on the cutting room floor, I want to note that AfD's Jewish caucus chairman thought it was absurd that his views are seen as mainstream in Israel but in Germany, he's thought of as a right-wing extremist.

Like the party’s leaders, the JAfD believes, according to its website, that “the greatest threat to Europe in the 21st century is the growth of the Muslim population” and adds that “the rise of political Islam is also primarily a threat to Jews.” While party leaders’ statements contradict AfD’s official support for Israel, the JAfD is strongly and unequivocally pro-Israel.

In January 2024, the German investigative newsroom Correctiv reported that AfD members secretly met with neo-Nazis and wealthy businessmen to plan the mass deportation of immigrants from Germany in a plot called “remigration.” The news brought hundreds of thousands of Germans into the streets in protest.

AfD initially disputed what was discussed at the meeting, though eventually party leader Alice Weidel embraced remigration as the official party platform. Though the party is once again trying to distance itself from the controversial remigration concept to create a broader appeal among the mainstream electorate, JAfD still believes that the plan is essential. Abramovych himself is an immigrant — from Ukraine — but claimed that immigration is threatening German society due to Muslim fertility rates.

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Jake Wasserman @jacobhwasserman.bsky.social · 3d

For this story, I spoke with a Jewish man who was charged with "incitement to hatred" — a charge commonly used by Germany against neo-Nazis — for invoking the memory of the Holocaust against the war in Gaza.

He told me it was possible our conversation was being surveilled by federal intelligence.

The next month, Hoban gave a speech where he said, “Germany can’t wash away its Holocaust guilt with the blood of Palestinians.” Afterwards, he was taken aside by police and charged on suspicion of Volksverhetzung — “incitement to hatred” — a charge that has been used by the German government to prosecute neo-Nazis and far-right extremists, and carries a sentence of up to five years in prison.

In Hoban’s view, memory culture had extended past its logical limits to charge him, a Jew, with a violation of the German criminal code for invoking his own history.

“They explained to me that I had mentioned the Holocaust and that in Germany, they take the Holocaust very seriously,” Hoban said. “This was a bit surreal.”

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Reposted by Jake Wasserman

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 3d

Tucker Carlson interviewed white nationalist podcaster Nick Fuentes on Monday, sitting politely as Fuentes criticized the power of “organized Jewry in America.”
www.thebulwark.com/p/one-of-the...

One of the Most Dangerous Interviews Ever in MAGA Media

Why Tucker Carlson platformed white supremacist Nick Fuentes.

www.thebulwark.com

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Jake Wasserman @jacobhwasserman.bsky.social · 3d

I went to Germany to speak with both Jews and non-Jewish Germans who are doing the work of bringing memory culture to life — and to learn how Germany's commitment to remember the Holocaust is being strained by the post-Oct. 7 and far-right politics.

Thanks to @boellus.bsky.social for their support.

How Germany's Holocaust remembrance culture kicked off a democratic crisis

Germany’s Holocaust remembrance culture has been strained by Oct. 7 and the rise of the far-right. What happens if Germany loses its memory?

forward.com

3 10 23

Reposted by Jake Wasserman

Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 5d

A person in Alabama was arrested with a suitcase full of ammunition, body armor, and other items, intending to attack synagogues across the US South. www.cnn.com/2025/10/28/u...

Man arrested with body armor and a suitcase filled with ammunition after threatening multiple synagogues, officials say | CNN

In the latest antisemitic incident to rock a community, threatened attacks on synagogues in Alabama and surrounding states were thwarted when a person was arrested with a suitcase full of ammunition, ...

www.cnn.com

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Jake Wasserman @jacobhwasserman.bsky.social · 7d

Extremely proud of this headline

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 9d

‘His teeth flew out of his mouth and landed in my spaghetti’: 10 first date horror stories

Many have experienced that sinking feeling when reality falls dramatically short of expectations

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Jake Wasserman

Dara Kerr @darakerr.bsky.social · 10d

glad to see silicon valley is financing the destruction of the white house 😑

list of donors includes apple, amazon, meta, microsoft and google

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Donors for Trump’s $300m White House ballroom include Google, Apple and Palantir

Work under way to demolish entire East Wing as president upped cost of new structure from $200m to $300m

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Jake Wasserman

Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 10d

“Without the implicit threat of state violence, without the bravery of offering up a comically unprotected body as a target for real violence, tactical frivolity can devolve into little more than entertainment.”

Silly inflatable costumes are taking over anti-Trump protests. What are they actually saying?

Whimsical frogs and unicorns have become mascots of the resistance – but it’s easy for tactical frivolity to devolve into entertainment

www.theguardian.com

8 9 49

Jake Wasserman @jacobhwasserman.bsky.social · 14d

Building a time machine to go back and show this to Barack Obama before he goes out to address the 2011 White House Correspondents Association dinner

molly conger @socialistdogmom.bsky.social · 15d

and another thing: he’s not mad. please don’t put it in the newspaper that he got mad.

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Jake Wasserman @jacobhwasserman.bsky.social · 15d

No Kings and the New York Sheep & Wool festival — Rhinebeck, NY

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Jake Wasserman @jacobhwasserman.bsky.social · 17d

I did it, I beat the draft only by using every waking hour I had when I wasn’t doing my day job to write. Story soon!!!

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Reposted by Jake Wasserman

Eric Umansky @ericumansky.bsky.social · 17d

BREAKING from PP

We found immigration agents have held more than 170 *citizens*

The govt doesn't track citizens held. So we did. We tallied:

Nearly 20 kids, two w/ cancer

More than 20 citizens held for day or more, incommunicado

www.propublica.org/article/immi...

by @nicolefoy.bsky.social

More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.

The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...

www.propublica.org

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Reposted by Jake Wasserman

Maanvi Singh @maanvisingh.bsky.social · 17d

Queer and trans ppl at a Louisiana ICE facility alleged they were recruited for unsanctioned work program, forced to do hard manual labor $1 per day. They said queer ppl were targeted by an assistant warden who stalked, harassed and sexually assaulted them.