President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, April 20, 2017. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Iran is not living up to the “spirit” of the nuclear deal, President Donald Trump said, the latest in a flurry of mixed messages on the deal his administration has relayed in recent days. “As far as Iran is concerned, I think they are doing a… Read more »
Geoffrey Rush as Albert Einstein with Emily Watson as his wife Elsa in National Geographic’s show "Genius." (National Geographic/Dusan Martincek)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Think “Albert Einstein,” and certain images or phrases likely come to mind: “genius,” “kooky,” “wild hair,” “theory of relativity,” “E = mc2” — maybe even “Zionist.” Sex and violence? Not so much. Then there’s “Genius,” a TV series premiering on Tuesday — National Geographic channel’s first scripted… Read more »
Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, walk in the presidential inauguration parade in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2017. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
(JTA) — I am a huge fan of monogamy. My wife and I have been married for — well, let’s just say we met in high school (we didn’t get together until after college, but I was trying to avoid saying “a long time”). I took it personally when… Read more »
A view of the Suruc refugee camp in Turkey, which houses some 35,000 Syrian refugees. (Carl Court/Getty Images)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – At a Shabbat service in Tel Aviv on Friday evening, congregants recited the mourner’s prayer for those killed in Syria’s civil war. Standing before a mural of the Tree of Life, the rabbi of Beit Daniel, the largest Reform synagogue in Israel, delivered a sermon… Read more »
The USS Porter fires a Tomahawk missile at a Syrian military airfield in the Mediterranean Sea, April 7, 2017. (Ford Williams/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Israel’s government and pundits are unabashedly pleased by the missile strike ordered by President Donald Trump early Friday on the Syrian airfield from where Tuesday’s deadly chemical attack is believed to have been launched. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put out a statement out at 6 a.m.… Read more »
Hassan Dallal, a survivor of the chemical attack in Syria, receives medical treatment at a hospital in Idlib, April 5, 2017. (Mohammed Karkas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – In response to the alleged chemical attack in Syria on Tuesday, Israelis have donated hundreds of thousands of shekels to help children and others caught in the conflict raging on their northern border. With Israel maintaining a policy of noninterference, giving money has been a way for people here to… Read more »
Jewish Voice for Peace members at the Jewish United Fund of Chicago protest donor-advised funds from JUF going to groups that have been deemed Islamophobic, March 24, 2017. (Inbal Palombo)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Lisa Greer didn’t think twice when she used her cellphone to donate to IfNotNow, a Jewish organization that protests Israel’s West Bank occupation. Greer and her husband, Joshua, had given millions to progressive Jewish and Israel causes, and she sits on the board of the… Read more »
Richard Gere stars as Norman Oppenheimer in "Norman." (Niko Tavernise/Sony Pictures Classics)
(JTA) — Richard Gere is sexy, suave, tough. He’s been the star of a constellation of films, from “American Gigolo” to “Pretty Woman,” “An Officer and a Gentleman” to “Primal Fear.” At 67, the onetime People magazine Sexiest Man of the Year (1999) still has the looks and charm… Read more »
French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen speaks in Henin-Beaumont, France, Dec. 6, 2015. (Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images)
PARIS (JTA) — Like many Jews in France, Ludwig Fineltain is hoping against hope that Marine Le Pen will not be elected president of the country five weeks from now. At the moment, the head of the far-right National Front party is leading in the polls with 26 percent… Read more »
Jewish mental health professionals say there has been an unprecedented rise in anxiety, stress and sadness since Donald Trump was elected president. (Lior Zaltzman)
(JTA) — The text messages started pouring in at 6:30 a.m. as Tracey Rubenstein was getting her kids ready for school. By the end of the day the Boca Raton, Florida-based social worker had spoken to most of her clients, either in person or via text. They were shocked, disappointment, sad and scared.… Read more »
Ricardo Horvath, manager of the Inter Aliyah soccer club, holds up a team jersey following a victory over Beitar Jaffa in Tel Aviv, March 17, 2017. (Andrew Tobin)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – “Vamos!” “Pass it!” “Ladrao!” For most of the match on a local field Friday, the Inter Aliyah Club soccer players speak a variety of languages. But when the ball hits the back of the opposing team’s net, they join in soccer’s universal victory cry: “Goooal!” Inter… Read more »
The crowd at last year's AIPAC conference at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., listen to Hillary Clinton speak, March 21, 2016. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Maintaining Iran sanctions, crushing BDS and ensuring aid to Israel are high on the agenda, of course. But the overarching message at this year’s conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is, if you want a break from polarization, come join us. “This is an unprecedented… Read more »
Bronia Feldman visits the synagogue of Bershad, March 9, 2017. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
BERSHAD, Ukraine (JTA) — At first glance, this drab town 160 miles south of Kiev seems nearly identical to the settlements that dot the poverty-stricken district of Vinnitsa. Shrouded in a seemingly permanent cloud of smoke from wood fires — still the standard means of heating here — Bershad, population… Read more »
The cast of “Nebsu,” the first Israeli prime-time show to feature a black actor in a lead role. (Reset)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – Last week, Israelis for the first time saw a black lead character on a homegrown, primetime television show. “Nebsu,” a half-hour comedy, focuses on an Ethiopian man who is married to an Ashkenazi Jewish woman. Misunderstanding ensues. “There is definitely a lot of cultural confusion in the… Read more »
Francois Fillon (center) shakes hands with CRIF President Francis Kalifat in Paris, March 14, 2017. (Courtesy of CRIF)
PARIS (JTA) — Even to his supporters, France’s center-right presidential hopeful Francois Fillon is a flawed candidate. Dogged by corruption scandals Fillon, who represents The Republicans party of former President Nicolas Sarkozy, was indicted Tuesday for allegedly funneling public funds illicitly to his children and wife. Fillon, a career… Read more »
Cody Decker of Team Israel holds team mascot the Mensch on a Bench after the World Baseball Classic game against the Netherlands in Seoul, South Korea, March 9, 2017. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — A couple weeks ago, Adam Atkins didn’t know Israel had a baseball team. But since the squad started winning games last week in the World Baseball Classic, he has become a fan. Atkins and his friends wanted team caps, but were frustrated to discover they were… Read more »
President Donald Trump attends a meeting on health care in the White House, March 13, 2017. (Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Trump administration rhetoric about Israeli-Palestinian peace is typical of a president who would make everything great: President Donald Trump is going to bring about a “historic” deal, the White House has said, one that would “reverberate positively throughout the region and the world.” What isn’t typical, at… Read more »
Protesters outside the Dutch consulate in Istanbul after the Turkish foreign minister was refused entry into the Netherlands, March 12, 2017. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (JTA) — The thousands of people who gathered outside the Turkish consulate of this port city on Saturday patiently waited for hours, chatting with friends and relatives. Waving Turkish flags, they had gathered on a chilly evening to listen to a Cabinet minister from Turkey arguing in… Read more »
Abigail Pogrebin (Lorin Klaris)
(JTA) — Purim is a dark story marked by a crazy party. I’m still unsure why a close brush with extermination became, in the Middle Ages, an opportunity for costumes and farce, but there you have it. It’s the fifth century BCE, about a hundred years after the First… Read more »
Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting at The Venetian Las Vegas, Feb. 24, 2017. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS (JTA) – Republican Jews have President Donald Trump to thank for their party’s renewed dominance of Washington politics. So what do they think of him? Marlyn Appelbaum paused to contemplate the question at the opening of the Republican Jewish Coalition’s confab at the Venetian resort hotel here Friday evening. Then she… Read more »
