Despite all the bad news about rising anti-Semitism, America remains a land of opportunity for Jews, including those who make no efforts to hide their identity. Take Richie Taylor of Brooklyn, who today will be sworn in as a deputy chief of the New York Police Department, making him the force’s highest-ranking kippah­-wearing officer. Reuvain Borchardt writes:

At forty-one, Taylor will be the youngest deputy chief currently in the Department. Richard (Yechiel) Taylor grew up in Manhattan Beach and Midwood, attending Yeshiva of Manhattan Beach and Touro College. Before becoming a police officer, Taylor was a member of [the Orthodox emergency medical service] Hatzalah, and responded to the World Trade Center on 9/11.

He became a police officer in 2005. . . . Taylor has served in over ten commands across the city, and was the recipient of the 61st Precinct Cop of the Month Award in September 2016 for making a firearm arrest solo. He currently serves as commanding officer of Community Affairs, and he will continue in the Community Affairs Bureau after his promotion.

In a sense, the most successful negotiation with Hamas was the recent agreement securing the release of Edan Alexander, the last living hostage with a U.S. passport. Unlike those previously handed over, he wasn’t exchanged for Palestinian prisoners, and there was no cease-fire. Dan Diker explains what Hamas got out of the deal:

Alexander’s unconditional release [was] designed to legitimize Hamas further as a viable negotiator and to keep Hamas in power, particularly at a moment when Israel is expanding its military campaign to conquer Gaza and eliminate Hamas as a military, political, and civil power. Israel has no other option than defeating Hamas. Hamas’s “humanitarian” move encourages American pressure on Israel to end its counterterrorism war in service of advancing additional U.S. efforts to release hostages over time, legitimizing Hamas while it rearms, resupplies, and reestablishes it military power and control.

In fact, Hamas-affiliated media have claimed credit for successful negotiations with the U.S., branding the release of Edan Alexander as the “Edan deal,” portraying Hamas as a rising international player, sidelining Israel from direct talks with DC, and declaring this a “new phase in the conflict.”

Fortunately, however, Washington has not coerced Jerusalem into ceasing the war since Alexander’s return. Nor, Diker observes, did the deal drive a wedge between the two allies, despite much speculation about the possibility.