National

RAMALLAH, West Bank (JTA) — Standing outside the Al Siwadi juice shop, located near this Palestinian city’s central Al Manari Square downtown, a man named Maher complains about the recently released U.S. peace plan. Trump’s plan is designed to “give the rich Jews what they want,” Maher asserts as… Read more »

(JTA) — Despite a rise in anti-Semitic violence in recent years, the proportion of Americans holding “intensely” anti-Semitic views remains small, according to a new poll. The poll, conducted by the Anti-Defamation League and published Wednesday, asked 11 questions of U.S. adults regarding traditional anti-Semitic stereotypes, using a protocol the… Read more »

(JTA) — A picture book about the founder of the National Yiddish Book Center and a debut graphic novel of a gripping Holocaust story are among the gold medal winners of this year’s Sydney Taylor Book Awards for Jewish children’s books. Leslea Newman, the author of 70 books, including… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved $10 million over five years to fund Holocaust education in American schools. The vote Monday was timed for International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi camp. The money will be administered… Read more »

(JTA) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has pardoned Naama Issachar, an Israeli-American backpacker who was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison for drug smuggling. The Russian news agency Interfax News reported Wednesday that Putin had issued the pardon. Issachar, 26, had been returning from India to Israel by way… Read more »

(JTA) — The Trump administration put questions about the seriousness of its Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal to rest Tuesday by delivering a 181-page, detail-laden document that outlines a clear — if one-sided — vision for the future of the region. The document includes sections on history, security and economics, among… Read more »

(JTA) — President Donald Trump unveiled his long-awaited Middle East peace plan on Tuesday, and the release event was a doozy. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined Trump at a news conference and compared it to President Harry Truman’s recognition of the State of Israel in 1948. Netanyahu also… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — A bus carrying approximately 40 teenage boys from a Hasidic town in upstate New York to a weekend retreat flipped over, injuring 18. The incident occurred around 1:20 p.m. on Friday. The bus was coming from the village of New Square and heading into the… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — It’s less than two weeks to the first nominating contest, the Iowa caucus, which means that congressional endorsements of presidential candidates are beginning to trickle in. A lawmaker backing a candidate this early in the race may reflect a desire to tap into the White House wannabe’s… Read more »

(JTA) — Lakewood Township in New Jersey is getting its first Orthodox Jewish police officer, local media reported. Michael Wolf was sworn in Wednesday in a ceremony with 12 other new police officers following a year-long training, Asbury Park Press reported. Lakewood Police Chief Greg Meyer said he hoped… Read more »

BLYTHE, Calif. (J., the Jewish News Weekly of Northern California via JTA) — James A. “Sneaky” White Jr., a Jewish inmate convicted of murder and imprisoned for nearly four decades, is now a free man. As he stepped out of prison on Jan. 21 to begin his life anew, his many… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump said he may unveil his long-awaited plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace before a planned meeting next Tuesday in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz. “Probably we’ll release it a little bit prior to that,” Trump told reporters traveling… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — American teen Ezra Schwartz will never play on the baseball field in Raanana that bears his name. But hundreds of Israeli young people, including some of Ezra’s cousins, will have the chance. In doing so, they will be honoring the memory of a young man who… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump will meet at the White House on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz to talk in part about Middle East peace. Vice President Mike Pence extended the invitation at a meeting Thursday in Jerusalem with Netanyahu. The… Read more »

(JTA) — Bradley Cooper will direct, produce and star in a Netflix film about the late Jewish composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. The untitled film is expected to begin production early next year and will be released in theaters before the film premieres on Netflix, Deadline first reported. The… Read more »

(JTA) — Jason Greenblatt said he left his position as special representative for international negotiations in the Trump administration because of political turbulence in Israel — and the financial cost of raising an Orthodox family in America. In an interview with Mishpacha Magazine, one of the most widely read… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Trump White House has again credentialed TruNews, the outlet that called the impeachment of President Donald Trump a “Jew coup,” this time to cover Trump’s visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The White House Correspondents Association confirmed to CNN’s Jake Tapper on… Read more »

(JTA) — Neo-Nazi podcaster Christopher Cantwell quoted Adolf Hitler in a motion filed in federal court in Virginia. The quote, with which he opens the motion, comes from the Nazi leader’s “Mein Kampf,” though it is only identified in the motion as being from a “Famous 20th Century Statesman.” Cantwell… Read more »

(JTA) — Cancer may have weakened Edward Mosberg’s body, but it has done nothing to dissuade the 94-year-old Holocaust survivor from New Jersey from traveling to his native Poland at least once a year to commemorate the Nazi genocide. “I wouldn’t wish my medical situation on Hitler,” Mosberg told… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — We ran a story last week on where the top seven Democrats running for president stood on Iran policy. Try as we could, we could not pin down a position for Mike Bloomberg, the former New York mayor who was not included in the last debate,… Read more »