(JTA) — The call came one evening in August. I was in Jerusalem staying with my oldest sister, Goldy, for the summer. “It’s for you,” Goldy shouted from the kitchen. “Aunt Fraidy!” Aunt Fraidy had been my host in my last year of high school. My parents, concerned about… Read more »
Posts By Jigsaw Digital
Behind Japanese fascination with Anne Frank, a ‘kinship of victims’
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AMSTERDAM (JTA) — She speaks only Japanese and is not entirely sure what country she’s in, but 18-year-old Haruna Matsui is happy to stand in the rain for an hour with two friends to see the home of a person she has never met yet nonetheless considers her soul… Read more »
In Sundance premiere, a look at Shin Bet’s methods
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PARK CITY, Utah (JTA) — Perhaps the most difficult thing about watching the new documentary “The Green Prince” is feeling that you should not be there, that everyone in the theater should be asked to leave before any more Israeli intelligence secrets are divulged. When the Israeli newspaper Haaretz… Read more »
Retiring London Fletcher lauds bridge to NFL success — a Jewish couple
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BALTIMORE (JTA) — The rain dripping from his uniform provided an unceremonious end to London Fletcher’s career as the Washington Redskins linebacker headed to the locker room following a recent road loss to the New York Giants. His team’s last-place finish was hardly the idealized final walk off the… Read more »
Upcoming Halimi movie part of wave of renewed interest in ’06 murder
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SAINTE-GENEVIEVE-DES-BOIS, France (JTA) — The phone calls from Africa, the calm demeanor of the suspects and their extreme caution left no doubt in the minds of detectives working the Ilan Halimi case: They were up against an international ring of professional kidnappers. It would be more more than three… Read more »
Will AIPAC-Obama sanctions clash dent pro-Israel lobby’s clout?
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WASHINGTON (JTA) — In previous AIPAC vs. White House dustups, the pro-Israel lobbying group’s strategy was to speak softly and let Congress carry the big stick. But in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s face-off with the Obama administration over new Iran sanctions, congressional support may not be so… Read more »
Stephen Harper is one of Israel’s staunchest supporters — but why?
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TORONTO (JTA) — It took seven years, but one of Israel’s staunchest allies among world leaders has made his maiden voyage to the Jewish state. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrived in Israel on Sunday with his wife, Laureen. On Tuesday, Harper and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed… Read more »
Iran sanctions have majority backing in Senate, but not enough to override veto
WASHINGTON (JTA) — More than half the United States Senate has signed on to a bill that would intensify sanctions against Iran. But in a sign of the so-far successful effort by the White House to keep the bill from reaching a veto-busting 67 supporters, only 16 Democrats are… Read more »
For lone socialist in Congress, pet issue finds the spotlight
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WASHINGTON (JTA) — Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont and the only self-described socialist in Congress, has long been an outspoken voice in Washington on issues of economic inequality. But with the vanishing middle class figuring prominently in the campaign for mayor of the country’s largest city, and… Read more »
Is food writer Mark Bittman going kosher?
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NEW YORK (JTA) — Mark Bittman is not a religious man by any stretch of the imagination, least of all his own. A longtime food writer for The New York Times who three years ago shifted from cooking to food policy columnist, Bittman has made a living eating the… Read more »
As quenelle spreads to pitch, British soccer bosses staying on sidelines
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(JTA) — When West Bromwich Albion striker Nicolas Anelka exposed British soccer fans to the vaguely Hitlerian salute now sweeping his native France, Jewish groups were confident a strong response was coming. After all, Britain is considered a leader in the fight against xenophobia in sports thanks to its… Read more »
Appreciation: A salute to Ariel Sharon
In January 1985, as a colonel in the Israeli Air Force, I was running a course for high-ranking officers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), focused on lessons from Israel’s wars. One of the case studies to be discussed was the battle of Um-Katef/Abu-Ageila, in the Six-Day War, when… Read more »
Chronology of Ariel Sharon’s life
(JTA) — A timeline of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s life. 1928 — Born Ariel Sheinerman in Kfar Malal, near Tel Aviv. 1942-48 — Member of the Haganah, the pre-state Jewish fighting force. 1948 — Wounded while serving as an infantry commander in Israel’s War of Independence. 1952-53… Read more »
Menachem Stark, slumlord or saint? Depends who you ask
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NEW YORK (JTA) — The murder of Menachem Stark has sparked intense media scrutiny of the Brooklyn real estate developer’s troubled business record, prompting the New York Post to ask “Who didn’t want him dead?” on its front page. But while mainstream media outlets scrutinized the Satmar hasid’s relationships… Read more »
Jan. 8, 2011: Peace was shattered
On Jan. 8, 2011, the peace of a sunny Tucson day was shattered at 10:10 a.m. in front of a Northwest Safeway, when a lone gunman killed six Tucsonans and wounded 13 others at a Congress on Your Corner event with U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. One of those wounded… Read more »
Academic group won’t consider Israel boycott, but its mere discussion raises hackles
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Until recently, the rule of thumb in the pro-Israel community was that the bigger the academic group, the less likely it was to consider a boycott of Israeli colleagues. But with the 30,000-member Modern Language Association set to host a panel on BDS at its convention… Read more »
At Tu b’Shvat, digging for spiritual growth
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LOS ANGELES (JTA) — While my neighbors were putting their Christmas trees to the curb, in what seems like a ritual of replacement, I was preparing to plant for Tu b’Shvat. My friend Freda recently presented me a cutting from an Angel’s trumpet — a small tree with beautiful,… Read more »
Two decades on, Russian immigrants a rare case of successful aliyah
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Growing up in the Urals, Pavel Polev was a precocious ice skater and a member of the Soviet Union’s national youth figure-skating team. But in 1992, at age 15, Polev’s life was upended when he joined the massive wave of Jews immigrating to Israel from… Read more »
JTA’s 2013 news quiz
(JTA) — So, you think you know what’s going on in the Jewish world? Test just how closely you followed the year’s news (and remember it) with our end-of year-news quiz. 1. Berlin’s Jewish Museum provoked controversy this year with … a) an exhibit exploring the origins of the… Read more »
How culpable were Dutch Jews in the slave trade?
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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (JTA) — On a busy street near the Dutch Parliament, three white musicians in blackface regale passersby with holiday tunes about the Dutch Santa Claus, Sinterklaas, and his slave, Black Pete. Many native Dutchmen view dressing up as Black Pete in December as a venerable tradition,… Read more »