Posts By Lauren Bookwalter

Nancy Pelosi leads congressional delegation to Poland and Israel

(JTA) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, leading a congressional delegation to Poland and Israel to commemorate 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, laid a wreath at the former Nazi camp on Tuesday. Pelosi joined her Polish counterpart, Elzbieta Witek, the speaker of the Sejm, the lower house of… Read more »

Biden mocks Trump’s claim to speak against anti-Semitism

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Joe Biden mocked President Donald Trump’s claims to speak out against anti-Semitism, saying the president is dividing the country and turning a blind eye to white supremacists. “President’s talking about how he’s worried about anti-Semitism,” Biden told The New York Time’s editorial board in an interview… Read more »

At 97, a Dutch resistance hero wants to give fellow Jewish fighters overdue recognition

Selma van de Perre signs her book at the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam, Jan. 9, 2020. (Cnaan Liphshiz)

AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Shortly after her capture by the Nazis in 1944, Dutch resistance fighter Selma van de Perre was transferred from a regular prison to the worst concentration camp in the Netherlands. Van de Perre arrived at the infamous Camp Vught about five months after its commander, Adam… Read more »

Stav Shaffir, Israel’s liberal rising star, is now in free fall

Stav Shaffir speaks to reporters in Tel Aviv ahead of Israeli national elections, Sept. 14, 2019. (Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Getty Images)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Less than a year ago, Stav Shaffir’s meteoric rise in Israeli politics seemed like it was continuing ever upward. Now the outspoken millennial advocate for liberal Zionism and social justice won’t even be running for office, her future uncertain. Her career appears to be a casualty… Read more »

How the Women’s March made itself irrelevant

Organizers of the Women's March at the march, Jan. 19, 2019. (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (JTA) — As the Women’s March gears up for its fourth go on Saturday, the skepticism and disenchantment are palpable. Articles questioning the relevance of the Women’s March in 2020 abound, comparing its expected low number of 10,000 marchers against the estimated 4 million in 2017. I,… Read more »

Holocaust survivors will soon be gone. Now it’s up to us to speak out against hate.

Ronald S. Lauder holds a #WeRemember sign ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. (Courtesy of World Zionist Congress)

NEW YORK (JTA) — It is a fact well-documented and well worth repeating: Within 25 years, it is likely that no survivors of the Holocaust will be alive. As a Jew, I am frightened by how the world looks in 2020. The rise of anti-Semitism we are experiencing today,… Read more »

Where the top 7 Democratic candidates stand on Iran

From left to right: Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren and Michael Bloomberg. (Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The post-debate analysis this week focused largely on the ongoing spat between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. While we hope they can sort that out soon, the debate featured something else more relevant to JTA readers: Everyone on stage thought that President Donald Trump made a… Read more »

Trump adds Alan Dershowitz to his impeachment team

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Alan Dershowitz, the constitutional scholar, will join President Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team. “Professor Dershowitz will present oral arguments at the Senate trial to address the constitutional arguments against impeachment and removal,” New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman quoted Trump’s legal team as saying on Friday.… Read more »

Muslims chant about killing Jews outside Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque

(JTA) — Hundreds of Muslims chanted about killing Jews outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Friday morning, prompting police to disperse the crowd. The chants began as worshippers were leaving the mosque following prayers atop the Temple Mount, Israel’s Channel 13 reported. No one was injured in clashes… Read more »

Ukrainian parliament commemorates Holocaust for the 1st time

(JTA) — Ukraine’s parliament for the first time commemorated the Holocaust ahead of the international date in memory of the victims. The Verkohvna Rada in Kyiv held a memorial ceremony on Thursday ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27. The date was designated in 2005 by the… Read more »

Anti-Semitic incidents decreased by 27% in Ukraine in 2019, Jewish group says

(JTA) — A Jewish organization in Ukraine said that the number of anti-Semitic incidents documented there last year decreased by 27 percent over 2018. The United Jewish Community of Ukraine, one of several groups representing Ukrainian Jewry, said in a report published Monday that it has documented 66 anti-Semitic… Read more »

Netanyahu and Putin discuss fate of jailed Israeli backpacker Naama Issachar

JERUSALEM (JTA) –Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin about regional developments and about the case of an American-Israeli woman jailed for drug smuggling. “The conversation was warm and to the point and strengthened the Prime Minister’s optimism that the issue of the… Read more »