Klan Banner; Disability Inclusion; Trump Confusion

Here are a few essential, interesting and fun items to start the day right in the Jewish community.

In Case You Missed It

• SOJOURN’s Purim off Ponce fundraising party will honor Rabbis Pamela Gottfried and Michael Bernstein on Feb. 25. Find out why.

To Do This Weekend

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• Three Reform congregations have special programs at Friday night services for Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month: Temple Sinai, where Full Radius Dance participates in the 6:30 service; Temple Kehillat Chaim, where PRISM Executive Director Marilynn Martinez speaks at the 7:30 service; and Temple Emanu-El, which explores sensory differences at its 7:30 service.
• Ben Hirsch, who escaped Germany on the Kindertransport and became a vital part of Atlanta’s Jewish community through his architecture, tells his story in a Bearing Witness program at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Breman Museum, 1440 Spring St., Midtown. It’s free.
• Keith’s Corner Bar-B-Que, now under Atlanta Kosher Commission supervision, holds a pop-up barbecue cookout Sunday from 4 to 7 p.m. at Young Israel of Toco Hills.

From The Times of Israel

• David Friedman’s confirmation hearing Thursday as U.S. ambassador to Israel included heckling and tough questioning, as well as his stated support for a two-state solution and regret for his past use of strong rhetoric against the likes of J Street and Sen. Chuck Schumer.
• Leaders of Israel’s Jewish Home party don’t care that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is having second thoughts: They’re determined to build a new settlement for the evacuated residents of the illegal outpost Amona.
• Arab feminist activists see racism in an Israeli plan to eliminate polygamy.

Also in the News

• The FBI arrested a South Carolina man Wednesday and accused him of planning an attack inspired by Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof, Myrtle Beach TV station WMBF reports. Benjamin McDowell’s target may have been a synagogue, based on his anti-Semitic social media posts and statements.

• Someone hung a Ku Klux Klan banner from an old building in Dahlonega, but it was removed by authorities as a violation of a sign ordinance Thursday, WSB-TV reports.
• Confused and upset by President Donald Trump’s comments Wednesday about openness to a one-state solution, Palestinians are pushing for a Trump meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as soon as possible, Al-Monitor reports.
• Trump’s response at his Thursday press conference to an Orthodox reporter’s question about anti-Semitism drew criticism, JTA says, but the reporter, Jake Turx, defends the president.
• Anti-hate groups are split in France over the trial of a Jewish scholar who’s an expert on Arab anti-Semitism, JTA reports.
• NASCAR is back, with qualifying beginning Sunday for the Feb. 26 Daytona 500, so it’s a good time to get to know the first Israeli to compete in a national NASCAR series, Alon Day, via Ynet.

Opinions

• Keep calm and carry on in the quest for Israeli-Palestinian peace, Tablet’s Yair Rosenberg advises.
• Tzvi Kahn writes for Foreign Affairs that Trump must make Iran feel the pain for its misbehavior.
• AJT blogger Jeffrey Kunkes thinks those seeing brown shirts everywhere are looking at the wrong side of the political spectrum. (Join the community conversation by starting your own blog.)

Fun Finish

• The context isn’t fun — the possible demise of the Dead Sea — but the 360-degree video is amazing.