(JTA) — The editor of a prestigious Belgian daily defended an op-ed described as anti-Semitic, saying its critics were trying to silence criticism of Israel. The column, written by Dimitri Verhulst, was published July 27 in De Morgen and quickly drew outrage. It describes Jews in Israel as land… Read more »
Posts By Shayne Tarquinio
‘We’ve lost a part of ourselves’: El Paso’s diverse Jewish community grapples with a mass shooting
(JTA) — Joseph Charter used to feel safe in El Paso. But after Saturday, when a gunman killed 22 people and injured 26 at a Walmart store in the Texas city, everything changed. “I had to go to Target the following day, and for the first time ever I… Read more »
Gymnast Agnes Keleti survived the Holocaust to win 10 Olympic medals. At 98, she’s as feisty as ever.
BUDAPEST (JTA) — When journalists ask Agnes Keleti about her health, she gently smiles and slowly extends her right hand in apparent gratitude for the question. Keleti yanks anyone who is foolish enough to grasp her hand with enough force to throw them off their balance. Then she replies:… Read more »
False accusations of anti-Semitism hurt the Jews more than you realize
BALTIMORE (JTA) — As Americans of conscience, many of us are deeply troubled by the hyperpartisan tone that seems to color almost every news story and cycle. The sensationalism that is so often present within our nation’s discourse undermines our collective ability to assimilate information and reach well-reasoned conclusions.… Read more »
Palestinian and Israeli discovered a shared past when they met as Washington interns
WASHINGTON (JTA) — In its 10 years of placing young Palestinian and Israeli leaders with Congress members, no lawmaker asked New Story Leadership for one of each — until Jamie Raskin did. This summer, Eran Nissan and Mohammed Ahmad have been interning in the office of the Maryland Democrat,… Read more »
He posed as a righteous Jewish convert for 19 years. Then he wrote a 2,000-page anti-Semitic screed.
NEW YORK (JTA) — “Eisenmenger belonged to the class of insects which sucks poison even out of flowers,” the 19th-century Jewish historian Heinrich Graetz wrote. Graetz was referring to Johann Andreas Eisenmenger, a young 17th-century scholar from Mannheim, Germany, who dedicated some 19 years of his life to mastering… Read more »
The youngest correspondent covering the debates is a 10-year-old Jewish kid
DETROIT (JTA) — For any reporter, careening in a year from reviewing restaurants to covering the presidential debates would be a pretty fast rise. But then again, Jefferson Henry Kraft is only 10 years old. Kraft is the KidScoop Media correspondent covering the Democratic presidential debates, taking place here… Read more »
Former Peruvian president denied bail in corruption case because officials fear he would flee to Israel
SAN FRANCISCO (J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — A former Peruvian president living in the Bay Area and facing bribery charges in his home country has been denied bail by a federal judge in San Francisco out of fear he would flee — to Israel.… Read more »
3 participants share what they learned on J Street’s first alternative to Birthright trip
(JTA) – Editor’s Note: In March, the the liberal Israel policy group J Street announced that it would be creating a 10-day free trip to Israel, designed to provide students with both Israeli and Palestinian perspectives on the conflict. Many interpreted the announcement as a move to compete with… Read more »
What The New York Times got right and wrong about BDS: An exchange
NEW YORK (JTA) – The Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s editor in chief, Andrew Silow-Carroll, and its opinion editor, Laura E. Adkins, shared their thoughts on a recent New York Times article answering “some of the most difficult questions” about BDS, or the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. Andrew… Read more »
Get ready for the new wave: Young, passionately Jewish — and anti-Zionist
NEW YORK (JTA) – In 2019, there are more haters than lovers of the Jewish Left. Especially in the United States, the mainstream Jewish community reviles left-wing Jews who embrace anti-Zionism. Meanwhile, the Jewish Left itself is split. On one side are the “Left Zionists” who support a two-state… Read more »
Selma’s only synagogue has 4 members and is fighting for its life
(JTA) — Whenever the lone synagogue in Selma, Alabama, needs dusting, new lighting or vacuuming, Ronnie Leet is the one who does it. It’s tiring work — especially since the 120-year-old Temple Mishkan Israel hasn’t held regular services in years, hasn’t had a rabbi in nearly half a century… Read more »
The new Netflix show ‘Family Business’ is a French-Jewish version of ‘Breaking Bad’
(JTA) — One fan’s recent description on Twitter of the new Netflix series “Family Business” isn’t too far off: a “French Breaking Bad but with weed.” The French series, which debuted last week, is a wacky comedy about a Parisian Jewish family, the Hazans, that turns its failed kosher… Read more »
The Chabad Rebbe died 25 years ago. Here’s how his movement has survived.
JERUSALEM (JTA) –Twenty-five years ago, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the 92-year-old Lubavitcher Rebbe, succumbed to his many ailments and died, to the horror of his Hasidim. Since suffering the first of several devastating strokes on March 2, 1992, while visiting the grave of his late father-in-law and predecessor Rabbi Yosef… Read more »
The Israel Project chairman says reports of its demise are premature. An insider says its entire staff was laid off.
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Israel Project’s chairman says that reports of the advocacy organization’s demise are premature in the wake of the surprise departure of its CEO. An insider told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the organization has let go of all of its staff without notice or their… Read more »
Israeli city inaugurates a ‘Donald Trump Square’
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The central Israel city of Petah Tikvah inaugurated a city square in honor of President Donald Trump. Donald Trump Square was inaugurated on Wednesday to thank Trump for his support of Israel, especially the president’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The square is… Read more »
‘Politics is not for women,’ leading religious Zionist rabbi says
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A leading religious-Zionist rabbi in Israel rejected the possibility of asking former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked to head the Union of Right Wing Parties because “politics is not for women.” Rabbi Shlomo Aviner was one of dozens of rabbis who signed a letter objecting to seeing… Read more »
41 percent of young European Jews have considered emigrating due to anti-Semitism
(JTA) — Forty-one percent of young Jews in Europe have considered emigrating because of safety concerns, according to the findings of a survey published Thursday. Some 2,700 respondents aged 16-34 said they wanted to leave “because they did not feel safe living there as a Jewish person,” the European… Read more »
The protests by Ethiopian Israelis, explained
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Protests by the Ethiopian-Israeli community and their supporters entered a third day on Wednesday in Israel in the wake of the killing of an Ethiopian-Israeli teen by an off-duty police officer. While the protests are tied to the death of Solomon Tekah, 19, on Sunday night… Read more »
Anti-Semitism is strengthening the Jewish identity of young people. Why haven’t our organizations embraced them?
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (JTA) – The year was 2000, and Michael Steinhardt had just dropped a bombshell that nearly brought an otherwise dignified conference to blows. “I tend, in my dourest moments, to consider both the Reform and Conservative Jews as historic accidents in the 21st century and suspect,… Read more »