World News in Brief

JTA

PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg of Sweden, made the announcement of the donation on Wednesday during an online celebration about surpassing 100 million subscribers, saying he wanted to get past previous “controversies”.

One of those “mistakes” occurred in February 2017, when Disney and YouTube distanced themselves from PewDiePie after he broadcast a video of two South Asian men dressed in green loincloths holding a sign reading, “Death To All Jews.” The video was viewed more than six million times before it was removed by Google, which owns YouTube. In addition, the shooter in Christchurch, New Zealand, said, “Subscribe to PewDiePie,” before carrying out his attack earlier this year.

Among the comments from followers was the suggestions that PewDiePie had been blackmailed by the ADL to regain his good standing on YouTube and in the media, implying that Jews control the media. They also objected to him giving money to an organisation that had criticised him.

Iowa Hillel’s former head charged with sexual abuse

The former executive director of the Iowa Hillel has been arrested and charged with abusing a young boy at Hillel House in Iowa City.

David Weltman, 29, of Skokie, Illinois, was teaching Hebrew to the boy sometime between February and March at Hillel House, according to the complaint laid with the Iowa City Police. The boy told police that Weltman took him into a room, and groped him.

The complainant also said that police had discovered during the subsequent investigation that Weltman admitted to an acquaintance that he was sexually attracted to children between the ages of seven and 12.

Weltman worked at Hillel from July 2016 to July 2019. He was charged with second-degree sex abuse, and is being held on a $100 000 (R1.4 million) bond in county jail. The charge is punishable by up to 25 years in prison.

Gal Gadot calls on Israelis to vote

Israeli actress Gal Gadot called on her Israeli Instagram followers to “get out and vote” in a graphic in white Hebrew letters on a black background.

In the first comment next to the image, she said, “So simple and so important. No matter who you choose to vote for. Choose to choose. This is our greatest responsibility as citizens. Let’s increase the voting percentage once and for all. Because this is the land of us all.”

Gadot, the star of Wonder Woman who generally posts in English, has 31.1 million followers.

City council head under fire for using term ‘Jew her down’

Colleagues of the president of the city council in Trenton, New Jersey, who allegedly used the term “Jew her down” during a closed-door meeting, came to her defence saying the term was “a verb” and not indicative of hate.

Kathy McBride allegedly said that a city attorney was “able to wait her out and Jew her down” to describe the settlement of a personal injury lawsuit at a lower amount. The attorney to whom she was referring is Jewish, The Trentonian reported.

“Her comment ‘Jew down’ was more in reference to negotiating, not ‘I hate Jews’,” city councilwoman Robin Vaughn wrote in comments on Facebook, according to the newspaper. “Inappropriate in today’s PC culture, absolutely, but not-anti-anything.”

Councilman George Muschal told the website New Jersey Globe that the term was “just a statement of speech”.

Reed Gusciora, the mayor of New Jersey’s capital city, called the use of the term “offensive”. He later told radio station WHYY that both McBride and Muschal had apologised to the city attorney.

Denver-area students post Snapchat about killing Jews

High school students in suburban Denver recently participated in a Snapchat post that referred to killing Jews.

In the post circulated over the weekend, three students at Cherry Creek High are shown wearing hats in a costume store. The text box below reads, “Me and the boys bout to exterminate the Jews.”

A fourth student took the photo and distributed it. The students in the photo said they weren’t aware that the fourth student had added the caption.

The school is working with the ADL to formulate a response and investigate the incident, the Denver Post reported.