News

(JTA) — Full disclosure: This is the third time in the past year that we have published this article. With only minor changes. That’s because on Monday, March 2, for the third time in the past 12 months, Israelis will be voting in a national election. The first election,… Read more »

(JTA) — University of Alabama wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, a top NFL prospect, wore an interesting accessory to a news conference at the league’s scouting combine: a Star of David necklace. Jeudy, 20, told reporters that he was wearing the Jewish star because his last name is Jeudy and… Read more »

PARIS (JTA) — The French municipality of Marseille described Tel Aviv as part of “former Palestine” in an official letter to a resident who was born in the Israeli city. Mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin signed the letter, which was sent on Feb. 5 informing the resident that he was registered… Read more »

(JTA) — At a carnival procession in Spain, participants dressed like Nazis and Jewish concentration camp prisoners while dancing next to a float evoking crematoria. The Israeli Embassy in Madrid on Tuesday protested the display this weekend at the annual carnival procession in Campo de Criptana, a town situated… Read more »

(JTA) — MSNBC host Chris Matthews apologized for comparing Sen. Bernie Sanders’ victory in the Nevada caucuses to Nazi Germany’s invasion of France. On Monday, Matthews addressed his remarks on his show. “I was wrong to refer to an event from the last days, or actually the first days,… Read more »

(JTA) — Mike Pence will again appear as a speaker at the Israel lobby AIPAC’s annual conference, as he has every year since he became vice president in 2017. Pence’s appearance was announced on Monday, hours after the American Israel Public Affairs Committee announced the participation of multiple Democratic… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — More than 40 new immigrants arrived in Israel on Tuesday from Ethiopia, less than a week before national elections. The new immigrants are from nine families and are being reunited with relatives who live in Israel. They are part of the Falash Mura community, which claim… Read more »

(JTA) — A Montreal-area home contains a clause in its deed preventing its sale to a Jewish person. It is the second home near that Canadian city in Quebec discovered to contain such a “servitude clause” barring sale to anyone of Jewish origin, CTV News reported. In January, it… Read more »

(JTA) — The former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett pleaded not guilty to a second round of charges for lying to police about being the target of a racist and homophobic attack. Smollett was indicted by a special prosecutor on restored charges two weeks ago. He is charged with six felony… Read more »

(JTA) — The American Israel Public Affairs Committee wants the world to know that American Jews and lawmakers from across the political spectrum support it, even if Bernie Sanders does not. A day after Sanders, a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, announced on Twitter that he would… Read more »

(JTA) — Ben Schwartz fits in well in the world of neurotic Jewish comedians. He was so anxious to get the word out about his new movie, “Standing Up, Falling Down” — a delightful indie dramatic comedy co-starring Billy Crystal in which Schwartz plays a struggling stand-up comedian who… Read more »

(JTA) — Employees of the Dutch national railways sang for train passengers a soccer song about Jews that the state-owned company said was “wholly inappropriate.” Nederlandse Spoorwegen, or NS, apologized on Sunday for the incident, which happened just after midnight aboard a train heading from a parade in the… Read more »

(JTA) — Seventy-four Jewish groups have expressed solidarity with Chinese Americans amid the coronavirus outbreak, saying in a letter that they are “concerned about rising xenophobia aimed at Chinese people in this country and abroad.” On Friday, the groups sent the letter with those sentiments in English and simplified… Read more »

(JTA) — Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who has described Jews as “hook-nosed” and blamed Israel for the unrest in the Middle East, has resigned. Mohamad, the world’s oldest leader at 94, submitted his resignation to the country’s king Monday, AFP reported. He had agreed to step down and… Read more »

WARSAW, Poland (JTA) – The Auschwitz Memorial has condemned the new Amazon mini-series about Nazi hunters. The museum said in a tweet that the human chess game invented for “Hunters,” in which the inmates of the Auschwitz camp were the game pieces and were killed when their piece was… Read more »

(JTA) — Marianne Williamson, a Jewish writer and self-help guru whose run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination failed to gain strength, has endorsed Bernie Sanders. Williamson offered her support during an appearance Sunday at a Sanders rally in Austin, Texas. “We’re being told oh, it can’t happen. He… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel confirmed its second case of coronavirus, diagnosed in another Israeli who returned after spending two weeks quarantined on a cruise ship docked in Japan’s Tokyo Bay. The case was confirmed on Sunday at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, where the cruise passenger has been… Read more »

(JTA) — A hard-line student group in Iran has threatened to destroy the Tomb of Esther and Mordechai in the north of the country in revenge for the Trump administration’s peace plan. The Basij group in Hamadan province, where the tomb is located, earlier this month said it would… Read more »

PARIS (JTA) — The U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism implicitly criticized the decision in France not to try a man who killed his Jewish neighbor. Elan Carr referenced the decision on the killer of Sarah Halimi during a conference Monday on anti-Semitism organized by the European… Read more »

(JTA) — Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein was found guilty Monday on two counts of rape and sexual assault, but was acquitted on more serious charges. A New York State Supreme Court jury found Weinstein, 67, guilty of a criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in… Read more »