JERUSALEM (JTA) — Special voting booths will be set up for Israelis who are under quarantine for possible coronavirus infection will get special voting booths for Israel’s national elections that will be held on March 2. The decision was announced on Monday by Israel’s Central Elections Committee, following a… Read more »
Yearly Archives 2020
Amazon accused of bias for offering free shipping to Jewish settlements but not Palestinian communities
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Amazon has been accused of bias for offering free shipping to Jewish settlements in the West Bank and not to Palestinian villages. The online retail giant began selling its international products in Israel late last year and offers free shipping on orders of $49 or more.… Read more »
Israeli airstrikes attack Hamas targets in Gaza after 2 rockets launched into Israel
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli fighter jets and helicopters attacked several Hamas terror targets in the Gaza Strip early Sunday morning after two rockets were fired the previous evening into southern Israel from Gaza. A military compound was among the Israeli targets in central Gaza, according to the Israel Defense… Read more »
Israelis called to gather at Western Wall to pray for coronavirus victims around the world
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Hundreds of Israelis gathered at the Western Wall on Sunday evening after a prominent rabbi in Israel called for a mass prayer for those infected by the coronavirus. Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of Safed, and the Association of Communitiy Rabbis, organized the service in… Read more »
Man who helped stop Monsey stabber refuses $20,000 reward from ‘Zionist organizations’
(JTA) — Joseph Gluck received a $20,000 reward for his role in apprehending the suspected Monsey synagogue stabber. But it didn’t come from two Jewish groups that had offered the award for information leading to an arrest. Gluck told News 12 Brooklyn last week that after consulting with his… Read more »
Princess Diana’s niece converting to Judaism before marriage to fashion tycoon
(JTA) — The niece of the late Princess Diana is converting to Judaism to marry a Jewish fashion tycoon. Kitty Spencer, a 29-year-old model, is engaged to Michael Lewis, 61, who chairs the Foschini Group. It will be the second marriage for Lewis, a South Africa native whose fortune… Read more »
New emoji is Israel’s way of saying ‘wait a minute,’ but others also claim it
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A symbol of pinched fingers — ubiquitous among Israelis saying “wait a minute” or “have patience” — has been included in the 2020 list of approved emojis. But the nonprofit Unicode Consortium, the organization that approves new emojis, is calling the emoji showing all fingers and thumb held together… Read more »
From bialy to ‘Jew York,’ Oxford English Dictionary adds dozens of (sometimes offensive) Jewish-themed words and phrases
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(JTA) — It’s not just “yiddo.” The Oxford English Dictionary has just added a slew of Jewish-themed and Yiddish terms, some of which are sure to offend. The venerable institution’s list of new entries for January 2020 contains dozens of items with Jewish content, from “bialy” to “Jewfro” to… Read more »
Bernie Sanders releases new ‘proud to be Jewish’ video
(JTA) — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has released a new campaign video in which he says he is “very proud to be Jewish” and that he looks forward to “becoming the first Jewish president in the history of this country.” The two minute and 40 second video also… Read more »
In Sweden, where anti-Semitism has risen, ‘Big Brother’ catches contestants confessing Jew hatred
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(JTA) — Two contestants were kicked off a Swedish reality show after having a conversation in which one said she hates Jews, while a third who remains has previously expressed support for neo-Nazi ideas on social media. The comments, made during a live airing of the popular show “Big… Read more »
Polish Jewish history museum chooses new director, ending controversy
WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — Poland’s Jewish history museum has chosen a new director, ending the controversy over its leadership. The Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews has been without a director for months since the country’s culture minister, Piotr Glinski, refused to accept the reappointment of Dariusz… Read more »
New documentary featuring Bill Clinton examines anti-Semitism in US and Europe
(JTA) — A new documentary featuring experts on anti-Semitism, as well as former President Bill Clinton, examines anti-Semitism in the United States and several countries in Europe. “Viral: Antisemitism in Four Mutations,” which is set to be released this month, focuses on the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, former Labour leader… Read more »
AIPAC is coming, but no one knows who’s speaking
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WASHINGTON (JTA) — AIPAC is coming, but no one knows who’s speaking. Just about two weeks before the activists come to town for the largest U.S. Israel lobby’s annual conference, AIPAC has no speakers listed on its convention website, though I’ve been told it will be posted in the… Read more »
Woman sues Israel Railways after being asked to move because men were praying
(JTA) — An Israeli woman is suing the national railway after an attendant asked her to change seats because men were praying in her railcar. In Orthodox Judaism, prayer is traditionally gender segregated, generally by a physical barrier, or a mechitza. The plaintiff, Maya Melitz, says that she was… Read more »
Conservative rabbinical students sign letter opposing Trump peace plan and West Bank annexation
(JTA) — Thirty-six Conservative Jewish rabbinical students signed a letter opposing President Donald Trump’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, as well as Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank. “Trump’s plan would leave Palestinians with a handful of discontiguous territories surrounded by settlements, and Netanyahu’s… Read more »
Jewish 101-year-old woman: Hitler was my neighbor and was ‘terrified of us’
(JTA) — A 101-year-old woman living in the United Kingdom has revealed that Adolf Hitler was her next-door neighbor. Alice Frank Stock lived next to the Nazi leader in Munich on Prinzregentplatz Street in the 1920s and early ’30s, she told the news agency SWNS. “There were two entrances,… Read more »
2 years after the deadly school shooting, Jews in Parkland say they still don’t feel secure
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PARKLAND, Fla. (JTA) — It was during Zoey Fox-Snider’s sophomore year that a gunman entered her campus at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School here. The 17-year-old remembers the fire alarm going off and rushing toward the exit with her friends, but then being told to go back in. Suddenly… Read more »
Steven Spielberg’s film company acquires rights to novel about Israeli-Palestinian conflict
(JTA) — Steven Spielberg’s film production company has acquired the rights to a soon-to-be published novel about the unlikely friendship between an Israeli father and a Palestinian father who each lost a daughter to the Arab-Israeli conflict. “Apeirogon” by Colum McCann, will be published by Random House on Feb.… Read more »
Israel asked that its passengers be allowed to leave cruise ship quarantined for coronavirus. Japan said no.
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s foreign minister asked his Japanese counterpart to allow Israeli passengers on a cruise liner docked in Tokyo Bay in quarantine due to the deadly coronavirus to leave the ship. Israel Katz said he promised to quarantine the passengers in Israel, if necessary. There are 15… Read more »
2 top British Jewish newspapers plan to merge but still publish separately
(JTA) — The two leading Jewish community newspapers in the United Kingdom are planning to merge but will continue to publish their own publications. The Jewish Chronicle and the Jewish News, both based in London, will merge under a charitable trust in an effort to secure their financial futures… Read more »