News

(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 »

(JTA) — A documentary filmmaker is suing the state of Georgia over its law against boycotting Israel, saying it violates the Constitution. Announcing her federal suit on Monday, Abby Martin said that after she refused to sign the required oath from the 2016 law pledging not to boycott Israel,… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Dozens of cars were vandalized and racist graffiti was painted on the wall of a mosque and other buildings in an Arab-Israeli town in northern Israel. Israeli news reports said as many as 170 cars had their tires slashed in Jish. The vandalism was discovered on… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Vered Noam of Tel Aviv University has been awarded the Israel Prize in Talmudic Studies — the first time that a woman has received the award. Noam, current chair of the university’s Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies and Archaeology and a full professor in the… Read more »

Phoenix Art Museum will present “India: Fashion’s Muse” Feb.  29- June 21, 2020. The exhibition examines the ways in which Indian dress, aesthetic, and artwork have inspired Western fashion designs from streetwear to couture. Spanning the 19th to the 21st centuries, the exhibition showcases nearly 40 garments and more… Read more »

A few years ago, Joe Gurski had never met a Jewish person and knew little about Judaism apart from things he had seen on television. Today the 25-year-old, who lives in Manchester, England, has many Jewish friends and can recite Shabbat prayers in Hebrew. Gurski, who grew up Catholic… Read more »

The national Safety Respect Equity coalition examines issues of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the Jewish community. The movement addresses privilege and power inequity, and devises solutions to ensure that existing structures no longer negatively influence how community business is done. The focus is on the values and… Read more »

The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Arizona will host a two-day international conference, “Contradictions and Tropes of Anti-Semitism,” Feb. 23-24. “The conference will address the disturbing rise of anti-Semitism in this country,” says Gil Ribak, Ph.D., organizing committee co-chair with Ed Wright, Ph.D., and Günther… Read more »

Extremism has hijacked the global social media conversation. Most of our lives — not just social life but news and entertainment that form our worldview — is online. The once-beautiful dream of a free internet — now a huge, irredeemable dumpster fire — is increasingly corrupted by conspiracy and… Read more »