News

(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 »

WARSAW, Poland (JTA) – The former director of the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews was chosen last year to return to the position he held for six years. But Dariuz Stola says he won’t take back the post due to a stalemate that his rehiring has… Read more »

(JTA) — The United Nations published its list of companies doing business in settlements — what it calls “Occupied Palestinian Territory,” or the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released the list on Wednesday following delays to its… Read more »

(JTA) — A crowdfunding campaign spearheaded by an Orthodox community in Brooklyn raised some $48,000 for the family of the police officer killed in the Jersey City attacks that also left three dead at a kosher market in the city. A check was presented Tuesday to the widow and… Read more »

(JTA) — Jussie Smollett, the “Empire” actor who had charges dropped last year for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack, has been indicted by a special prosecutor on the same charges. The special prosecutor, Dan Webb, said in a statement Tuesday that Smollett faces six felony… Read more »

(JTA) — One flyer reads “Holocaust = fake news.” Another says “America is not for sale.” And another: “Diversity destroys nations.” These are just a few of the 2,713 pieces of propaganda distributed in the United States by white supremacist groups in 2019, according to a  report published Wednesday… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg have much in common besides running for the Democratic nomination for president: They’re in their upper 70s, had hardscrabble upbringings and have had contentious relations with the party whose endorsement they now seek. And both are seeking the chance to make… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hasn’t negotiated directly with Israel in nearly six years and most Palestinians want him to step down.  Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert served 16 months in prison for bribery and fraud in a corruption scandal that ended his political… Read more »

(JTA) — President Donald Trump briefed some family members of the victims of the school shooting in Parkland on a new tool to assist schools with safety practices. One father said he was not invited to participate. Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jamie, 14, was killed in the South Florida… Read more »

(JTA) — The U.S. government must expedite the resettlement applications of over 300 refugees affected by the Trump administration’s 2017 ban as part of an agreement settling a lawsuit by Jewish groups and others. HIAS, the Jewish immigration advocacy group, had brought the suit on behalf of its partners,… Read more »

(JTA) — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that the Trump administration’s peace plan “or any part of this plan should not be considered as an international reference for negotiations.” “It leaves Palestine fragmented. It will end all basis for a peace plan,”… Read more »

BERLIN (JTA) – A surveillance video of the Yom Kippur attack on a synagogue in Halle, Germany, has raised questions about police response and readiness, leading to an investigation by the state government there. Concerns were triggered after German news organizations examined the synagogue’s security video. The state parliament… Read more »