(JTA) — President Donald Trump unveiled his long-awaited Middle East peace plan on Tuesday, and the release event was a doozy. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined Trump at a news conference and compared it to President Harry Truman’s recognition of the State of Israel in 1948. Netanyahu also… Read more »
Yearly Archives 2020
Benjamin Netanyahu officially indicted hours after he withdraws immunity request
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s attorney general filed the indictment on charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery against Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday hours after the prime minister withdrew his request for parliamentary immunity. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit filed the charges in three corruption cases against Netanyahu in Jerusalem… Read more »
US Embassy in Jerusalem issues Israel security alert as peace plan unveiled
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Moments after President Donald Trump announced his Israeli-Palestinian peace plan in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem released a security alert that warned against traveling to some areas of Jerusalem. The alert referenced “widespread calls for demonstrations in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza,” and… Read more »
Under Trump’s peace plan, Israel will ‘apply its laws’ to the Jordan Valley and parts of the West Bank
(JTA) — As part of President Donald Trump’s proposed plan for Middle East peace, Israel says it will “apply its laws” to the Jordan Valley and Israeli settlements in the West Bank. At a press conference on Tuesday with Trump at the White House discussing the broad outlines of… Read more »
Fran Drescher doesn’t mind being single because she has a ‘friend with benefits’
(JTA) — Fran Drescher, the star of the 1990s sitcom “The Nanny,” says she loves her gay former husband, but some of her needs are met by a “friend with benefits.” The twice-divorced Jewish actress spilt with Peter Marc Jacobson in 1999 after more than 20 years of marriage.… Read more »
Morocco opens $1.5 million center dedicated to Jewish culture in city of Essaouira
(JTA) — Morocco’s king has inaugurated a $1.5 million center dedicated to Jewish culture in the city of Essaouira. Last week, King Mohammed VI attended the inauguration for Bayt Dakira, which means House of Memory in Arabic. The port city was formerly home to a large population of Jews,… Read more »
Bus carrying Hasidic boys to weekend retreat in the Catskills flips over, injuring 18
NEW YORK (JTA) — A bus carrying approximately 40 teenage boys from a Hasidic town in upstate New York to a weekend retreat flipped over, injuring 18. The incident occurred around 1:20 p.m. on Friday. The bus was coming from the village of New Square and heading into the… Read more »
The Tell: It’s candidate endorsement season
WASHINGTON (JTA) — It’s less than two weeks to the first nominating contest, the Iowa caucus, which means that congressional endorsements of presidential candidates are beginning to trickle in. A lawmaker backing a candidate this early in the race may reflect a desire to tap into the White House wannabe’s… Read more »
Diego Schwartzman writes about his family’s Holocaust history
(JTA) — Jewish Argentine tennis star Diego Schwartzman is currently rolling at the Australian Open. After beating Serbian Dušan Lajović in straight sets on Friday, he has made it into the round of 16 for the second time in his career. He has yet to drop a set in… Read more »
New Jersey town with large Orthodox population gets first Orthodox cop
(JTA) — Lakewood Township in New Jersey is getting its first Orthodox Jewish police officer, local media reported. Michael Wolf was sworn in Wednesday in a ceremony with 12 other new police officers following a year-long training, Asbury Park Press reported. Lakewood Police Chief Greg Meyer said he hoped… Read more »
Bar Refaeli names her first son David
(JTA) — Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli named her son David. Refaeli’s third child and first son joins sisters Liv and Elle. The boy’s name was announced Tuesday. Refaeli is married to Israeli businessman Adi Ezra. David, who was born on Jan. 14, was named after Ezra’s father, Mako reported.… Read more »
After 38 years, Jewish convict who helped 1,500 inmates earn degrees is released from prison
BLYTHE, Calif. (J., the Jewish News Weekly of Northern California via JTA) — James A. “Sneaky” White Jr., a Jewish inmate convicted of murder and imprisoned for nearly four decades, is now a free man. As he stepped out of prison on Jan. 21 to begin his life anew, his many… Read more »
Their romance ended. Then the duo behind Lola Marsh became Israel’s biggest indie band.
(JTA) — Gil Landau and Yael Cohen, the two core members of Lola Marsh, don’t seem to care much about any of it — the pressure of being Israel’s biggest indie band, the baggage that comes with being labeled as Israeli occupiers in some of the places they perform,… Read more »
Israel’s Olympic baseball team preps for Tokyo and looks to expand the sport
MISGAV, Israel (JTA) – As more than 20 men wearing blue-and-white baseball uniforms walked along Tel Aviv’s bustling Allenby Street on a recent Tuesday, a motorcyclist called out in Hebrew and English. “Good luck! We’re behind you!” the man shouted to the group, members of the baseball team that… Read more »
Restorers find chest full of precious Judaica items in former Polish synagogue
(JTA) — Restorers working on a building that used to house a synagogue near Krakow, Poland, found a chest inside a wall containing precious silverware and Jewish artifacts. More than 350 items were found about two months ago in Wieliczka, the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper reported last week, including silver-plated… Read more »
Trump: Peace plan may be revealed in coming days
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump said he may unveil his long-awaited plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace before a planned meeting next Tuesday in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz. “Probably we’ll release it a little bit prior to that,” Trump told reporters traveling… Read more »
You can’t defend haredi Orthodox Jews against violence while demonizing our schools
NEW YORK (JTA) — Relentless campaigns calling for curricula reform in the nation’s yeshivas. Misleading headlines about educational standards at Orthodox schools. Zoning efforts aimed at keeping large Jewish families out of suburban towns. Some see a direct link between such things and the anti-Semitic violence that has erupted… Read more »
Ezra Schwartz, an American terror victim, loved baseball. Now there’s a field in Israel in his memory.
JERUSALEM (JTA) — American teen Ezra Schwartz will never play on the baseball field in Raanana that bears his name. But hundreds of Israeli young people, including some of Ezra’s cousins, will have the chance. In doing so, they will be honoring the memory of a young man who… Read more »
Mosque torched in Jerusalem in apparent hate crime
(JTA) — A mosque in Jerusalem was burned down in an apparent hate crime. The torching of the mosque in the Sharafat area on Thursday right resulted in no injuries. But nearby, spray painted in Hebrew, was the message: “Wreck Jewish — enemy homes will be wrecked.” Graffiti… Read more »
Swastikas painted on synagogue in New Zealand
(JTA) — Swastikas were found painted on and around a synagogue in Wellington, New Zealand. One swastika was painted on Wednesday on the Temple Sinai synagogue and several others were found nearby, a Wellington City Council spokesperson told Newshub. The word “Heil” was also painted nearby. “I’m upset by… Read more »