Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

Twenty-first century technology can go a long way toward bridging distances between people thousands of miles apart, but there is no replacement for personal and cross-community connections, says Inbal Shtivi. Shtivi, 43, who will be Tucson’s new shlicha (Israeli emissary) and director of the Weintraub Israel Center, will arrive… Read more »

PHOENIX (JTA) – Israeli Education Minister Rafi Peretz’s recent tone-deaf declaration that intermarriage is akin to a “second Holocaust” was shocking and shameful, and desecrates the memories of those who perished in the Holocaust. While Peretz leads the Jewish Home party as well as the United Right coalition, and is… Read more »

New research suggests Americans may be picking up paint brushes over remote controls. Two-thirds of adults in a recent survey say they seek to use their creativity more in life, and 77 percent would rather give up their Netflix subscription for a year than their favorite creative hobby. The… Read more »

AMHERST, Mass. (JTA) – Twenty-five years after the terrorist attack that targeted the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, leaving 85 people dead and hundreds more injured, one thing is clear: The lives of Latin American Jews were changed forever. With nearly 200,000 Jews at the time, from various religious… Read more »

(JTA) — Leaders of Britain’s Labour’s party shielded members from accusation of anti-Semitism amid an internal crisis that led to thousands of hate speech complaints but only 15 expulsions, the BBC reported. The findings aired Wednesday by the service’s flagship investigative television program “Panorama” represent the largest-scale journalistic focus… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) – At the annual Christians United for Israel conference, Vice President Mike Pence lambasted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for comparing U.S. migrant detention centers to concentration camps. “This slander was an insult to the 6 million killed in the Holocaust, and it should be condemned by every American… Read more »

This story originally appeared on Alma. After I came out as a lesbian, my mother embraced me with open arms. She loved me, and this didn’t change that. But she knew — and I knew — that I had to leave my gayness at the door when entering Bukharian… Read more »

(JTA) — The artist behind a political cartoon that showed U.S. government officials as puppets of George Soros and the Rothschilds has defended his work and accused the Anti-Defamation League of libeling him. On Wednesday, Politico reported that Ben Garrison would no longer be attending a White House social… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Tel Aviv suburb has approved operating public transportation on Shabbat. The City Council of Ramat Gan, a municipality in central Israel, approved the measure on Tuesday by a vote of 15-6. In a harbinger of the religious freedom debate that will infuse the campaign for… Read more »

SAN FRANCISCO (J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — A bill to ensure the right of Californians bill to hang mezuzahs on their door frames is moving through the state legislature, and is on its way to the desk of Governor Gavin Newsom. SB 652 bars landlords and… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a point of reminding a conference of Christian Zionists that Israel permits conversions to Christianity, just weeks after his department reported on the difficulties converts face there. Pompeo, speaking Monday to the annual Washington summit of Christians United For Israel,… Read more »

(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has come under fire in recent years for allegedly failing to confront anti-Semitism and revisionism in Central and Eastern Europe, met Wednesday with the head of a European political party whose membership includes ultranationalists and neo-Nazis. Oleh Lyashko of the Ukrainian… Read more »

(JTA) — The usual bio for Mariano Rivera includes retired New York Yankees relief pitcher, all-time saves leader, first player voted unanimously into the Baseball Hall of Fame, 13-time All-Star, five-time World Series champion. Add that he’s a staunch supporter of Israel. Rivera, 49, spoke this week at the… Read more »

(JTA) — Three lawmakers in the upper house of the British parliament left the Labour party over its spiraling anti-Semitism problem. David Triesman and Leslie Arnold Turnberg, who are Jewish, and Ara Darzi, who is not, announced their resignation on Tuesday. They will stay on as independents in the House of Lords.… Read more »

(JTA) — Israeli actress Gal Gadot will star in the biggest feature film ever made by Netflix. “Red Notice,” also starring Ryan Reynolds and Duane Johnson, will have a production budget of about $130 million. The action thriller, set for release in late 2020, is centered around the pursuit of… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Thousands of Ethiopian Israelis and their supporters demonstrated in cities across Israel on Tuesday night to protest the killing two nights earlier of an Ethiopian teen by an off-duty police officer. At least 60 protesters were arrested and at least 47 police officers were injured as… Read more »

Children and teens at public schools throughout the state will be safer thanks to the efforts of Rep. Alma Hernandez, Arizona’s first Jewish Latina lawmaker. Working with the office of Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, Hernandez, a Democrat, secured an agreement to begin mandatory training in de-escalation and crisis intervention… Read more »

Arizona State Rep. Tony Rivero spearheaded the new legislation to establish a trade office in Israel. (Gage Skidmore)

Arizona lawmakers approved an $11.8 billion budget last month that will include funding for the establishment of an Arizona trade office in Israel. Gov. Doug Ducey signed the budget on Friday, May 31. The budget includes nearly $500,000 dedicated to three trade offices: one in Israel and two in… Read more »

After 30 years as a public behavioral health social worker, Dina Rosengarten is still in love with her role. She has a new position as director at a large, private, non-profit behavioral health center in Tucson. She counsels residential clients, mostly those in substance abuse recovery and with severe… Read more »

It is no secret that Steve Teichner is a humanitarian. His car, parked at a Tucson migrant shelter on June 14, proudly announces his passion wherever he goes. (Debe Campbell)

It is 3 p.m. on a Friday, and Steve Teichner has already put in more than 40 hours of work this week. He will leave around 5:30 p.m., if no more migrants show up at the shelter. “It’s not a job, it’s a passion,” says the retired educator. “It’s… Read more »