News

For these Israeli startups, design is just as important as technology

At the Jerusalem-based Lightricks, a producer of image and video editing apps, the company has integrated design elements at all levels of product development, with a tech lead and a design lead working on every product the company makes. (Courtesy of Lightricks)
June 12, 2019 / Ben Harris

Last year, a group of students at Jerusalem’s renowned Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design set to work imagining the future. Their specific goal was to envision the next generation of wearable devices for the blind. Working in collaboration with the technology company Orcam, a Jerusalem-based producer of devices… Read more »

David Friedman gave Netanyahu half a nod for West Bank annexation. What happens next?

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman speaks at the AIPAC policy conference in Washington, D.C., March 26, 2019. (Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
June 12, 2019 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said Israel “has the right to retain” some of the West Bank. Palestinians fumed, Jewish settlers rejoiced, and the punditocracy predicted gloom and doom. What was it exactly that Friedman said in a New York Times interview. And what… Read more »

When young Israelis move to Germany or Austria, it’s a hard pill for their families to swallow

Dan Peled, center, with his father, Gidi, and grandmother Lea. Peled is a main subject of "Back to the Fatherland," a documentary on Israelis moving back to Germany and Austria. (First Run Features)
June 12, 2019 / Curt Schleier, JTA

(JTA) — On the surface, Gil Levanon and Kat Rohrer seem unlikely friends. Levanon is an Israeli, the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor. Rohrer, an Austrian, is the granddaughter of an avowed Nazi officer. If their friendship seems a little odd, their collaboration on the documentary “Back to the… Read more »

Officials alarmed by anti-Semitic assaults in Argentina
June 12, 2019 / JTA Staff

BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — Argentinean and international Jewish organizations are demanding action from local and regional authorities amid recent violent anti-Semitic attacks in the country. The Argentinean Jewish political umbrella DAIA labeled Sunday’s attack on Rabbi Shlomo Tawil in Rosario as “brutal anti-Semitic aggression” and demanded an investigation into the… Read more »

Drowning out jeers, Polish soccer fans applaud Israeli anthem
June 12, 2019 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

(JTA) — Thousands of Polish soccer fans attending a match in Warsaw between their national team and Israel’s applauded during the playing of the Jewish state’s anthem. “Hatikvah” was played just before “Mazurek Dąbrowskiego” on Tuesday ahead of the match, which ended with Poland winning 4-0. When some fans… Read more »

Jews abroad support a Cambodian man’s commitment to his fellow orphans

Arun Sothea runs an orphanage in Cambodia with the help of Jewish charities. Here he is shown dispensing supplies to girls in his village of Phum Thom. (Courtesy of Sothea)
June 10, 2019 / Charles Dunst, JTA

PHUM THOM, Cambodia (JTA) — Arun Sothea is a slight, soft-spoken man. He speaks both casually and simply when discussing the horrors of his past — as well the triumphs of his present — both of which have taken place in his childhood home of Phum Thom. The Khmer… Read more »

Jewish directors dominate at Tony Awards
June 10, 2019 /

(JTA) — “Hadestown,” a musical about the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and the underworld, won best new musical at the Tony Awards, and a coveted prize for its Jewish director. Rachel Chavkin won the Tony Award for best director of a musical for “Hadestown,” the tenth woman… Read more »

Rabbi attacked in central Argentina
June 10, 2019 / JTA Staff

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — A rabbi in Rosario, the third most populous city in Argentina, was verbally and physically attacked in violence that has been characterized as anti-Semitic. Rabbi Shlomo Tawil, of the local Chabad-Lubavitch organization, was attacked Sunday night by three men in the city center of… Read more »

The controversy over the DC Dyke March, Jewish stars and Israel, explained

Rae Gaines, Sarah Beth Alcabes, Jill Raney and a fourth participant in the DC Dyke March (right to left) are members of IfNotNow, a leftist Jewish group critical of Israel. (Courtesy of IfNotNow DC)
June 9, 2019 / Ben Sales, JTA

(JTA) — Is an LGBTQ parade banning flags with Jewish stars? Yes. Not really. Kind of. The D.C. Dyke March, a social justice-focused parade for, in its words, “queer liberation” happening Friday, announced that it is not welcoming any “nationalist symbols.” That includes Israeli flags and American flags, the… Read more »

Former Italian synagogue sees 1st Jewish wedding in centuries
June 9, 2019 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

(JTA) — An Italian couple whose ancestors were forced to hide their faith got married atop the ruins of an ancient synagogue, giving the site its first Jewish wedding in centuries. Roque Pugliese and Ivana Pezzoli tied the knot earlier this week in the presence of about 100 guests,… Read more »

Organization of American States to adopt International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism
June 9, 2019 / JTA Staff

(JTA) — The Organization of American States will adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of anti-Semitism, the group’s head said. OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro’s announcement June 4 in Washington makes him the first Latin American leader to do so. He also called Hezbollah “a terrorist organization”… Read more »