News

(JTA) — The niece of the late Princess Diana is converting to Judaism to marry a Jewish fashion tycoon. Kitty Spencer,  a 29-year-old model, is engaged to Michael Lewis, 61, who chairs the Foschini Group. It will be the second marriage for Lewis, a South Africa native whose fortune… Read more »

A symbol of pinched fingers — ubiquitous among Israelis saying “wait a minute” or “have patience” — has been included in the 2020 list of approved emojis. But the nonprofit Unicode Consortium, the organization that approves new emojis, is calling the emoji showing all fingers and thumb held together… Read more »

(JTA) — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has released a new campaign video in which he says he is “very proud to be Jewish” and that he looks forward to “becoming the first Jewish president in the history of this country.” The two minute and 40 second video also… Read more »

(JTA) — Two contestants were kicked off a Swedish reality show after having a conversation in which one said she hates Jews, while a third who remains has previously expressed support for neo-Nazi ideas on social media. The comments, made during a live airing of the popular show “Big… Read more »

WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — Poland’s Jewish history museum has chosen a new director, ending the controversy over its leadership. The Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews has been without a director for months since the country’s culture minister, Piotr Glinski, refused to accept the reappointment of Dariusz… Read more »

(JTA) — A new documentary featuring experts on anti-Semitism, as well as former President Bill Clinton, examines anti-Semitism in the United States and several countries in Europe. “Viral: Antisemitism in Four Mutations,” which is set to be released this month, focuses on the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, former Labour leader… Read more »

(JTA) — An Israeli woman is suing the national railway after an attendant asked her to change seats because men were praying in her railcar. In Orthodox Judaism, prayer is traditionally gender segregated, generally by a physical barrier, or a mechitza. The plaintiff, Maya Melitz, says that she was… Read more »

(JTA) — Thirty-six Conservative Jewish rabbinical students signed a letter opposing President Donald Trump’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, as well as Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank. “Trump’s plan would leave Palestinians with a handful of discontiguous territories surrounded by settlements, and Netanyahu’s… Read more »

(JTA) — A 101-year-old woman living in the United Kingdom has revealed that Adolf Hitler was her next-door neighbor. Alice Frank Stock lived next to the Nazi leader in Munich on Prinzregentplatz Street in the 1920s and early ’30s, she told the news agency SWNS. “There were two entrances,… Read more »

PARKLAND, Fla. (JTA) — It was during Zoey Fox-Snider’s sophomore year that a gunman entered her campus at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School here. The 17-year-old remembers the fire alarm going off and rushing toward the exit with her friends, but then being told to go back in. Suddenly… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s foreign minister asked his Japanese counterpart to allow Israeli passengers on a cruise liner docked in Tokyo Bay in quarantine due to the deadly coronavirus to leave the ship. Israel Katz said he promised to quarantine the passengers in Israel, if necessary. There are 15… Read more »

(JTA) — The two leading Jewish community newspapers in the United Kingdom are planning to merge but will continue to publish their own publications. The Jewish Chronicle and the Jewish News, both based in London, will merge under a charitable trust in an effort to secure their financial futures… Read more »

(JTA) — “Yiddo,” a variation of the derogatory term “yid,” is a new entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, which also has added a definition of the latter to describe supporters and players of a British soccer team. The Tottenham Hotspurs, known as the Spurs, has many Jewish supporters… Read more »

(JTA) — The student government at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign voted to adopt a resolution that supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. The 20-9 vote in favor early Thursday morning followed a five-hour meeting of the University of Illinois Student Government, the Illini Hillel… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A Minnesota congresswoman called AIPAC a “hate group” inciting against her after the Israel lobby featured her in an attack ad. “AIPAC claims to be a bipartisan organization, but its use of hate speech actually makes it a hate group,” U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, a Democrat,… Read more »

(JTA) — A former Hasidic Jewish couple is suing the Quebec province and school system, claiming the government did not make sure they received a complete education. The trial opened Monday in Quebec Superior Court and is expected to last about two weeks. Yohanan and Shifra Lowen filed the… Read more »

(JTA) — A group of undergraduate students at Harvard University has formed what they call an “anti-Zionist Jewish organization” that supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. The Harvard Jewish Coalition for Peace introduced itself in a public statement posted Monday on Facebook as “a new organization… Read more »

(JTA) — The presidents of Yeshiva University’s seven student councils have abstained from voting on whether or not to approve an LGBTQ club. The fate of the YU Alliance as an official campus organization will be left to the administration, The Commentator student newspaper reported. In a statement emailed… Read more »

(JTA) — A London borough’s City Council has voted unanimously to oppose a national Holocaust memorial in a park next to the Parliament building. The Westminster City Council said it is committed to building a national Holocaust memorial and education center and locating it near Parliament, just not in… Read more »

(JTA) — A student government committee at the University of California, Berkeley, voted down a resolution condemning a display by a pro-Palestinian student group. The Associated Students of the University of California Senate’s University and External Affairs Committee met on Monday night to discuss the resolution presented by a… Read more »