News

(JTA) — One week before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, dozens of European officials arrived in Poland for a large commemoration event at Auschwitz. The delegation from the Brussels-based European Jewish Association visited the former Nazi death camp, located about 20 miles from Krakow, on Tuesday. Few of the officials,… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli soldiers shot three suspected Palestinian terrorists on Wednesday who had crossed the Gaza border fence into southern Israel. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that the infiltrators were hiding in a wooded area opposite Kibbutz Kissufim near the border. After one of the… Read more »

(JTA) — Amar’e Stoudemire has signed to play with the defending Israeli basketball champions Maccabi Tel Aviv, stirring calls of traitor from fans of his former Israeli squad of which the one-time NBA All-Star was a part owner. Stoudemire returns to Israel through the end of the season after… Read more »

(JTA) — Terry Jones, one of the core members of the Monty Python comedy troupe, died Tuesday night at 77. He had been suffering from dementia. In addition to starring in numerous Python productions, the beloved comedian directed some of the group’s biggest films, including “Monty Python and the… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — French President Emmanuel Macron shouted at Jerusalem police officers on Wednesday when they tried to accompany him into a Jerusalem church owned by the French government and considered French territory. “We know perfectly — everybody knows the rules. I don’t like what you did in front… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli President Reuven Rivlin promised Polish President Andrzej Duda “some kind of platform” to speak if he attended the Fifth World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem, according to a Rivlin official. The president’s residence director-general, Harel Tubi, told Radio South that Rivlin plans to invite Duda to… Read more »

(JTA) — Two center-left parties in Israel merged their electoral lists last week ahead of a submission deadline for the March 2 election. Labor, the “founding party” of Israel, will run with Meretz, a left-wing party long committed to ending the occupation and establishing a Palestinian state. This reluctant… Read more »

WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the Jewish community center in Krakow along with a congressional delegation and received honorary membership. The bipartisan delegation led by Pelosi visited JCC Krakow on Tuesday after visiting the site of the former Auschwitz Nazi camp and touring the… Read more »

(JTA) — Half of American adults are unaware of basic facts regarding Nazism and the Holocaust, including the number of Jews who were killed and how Nazis came to power. Those are some of the findings of a new study by the Pew Research Center released on Tuesday, about… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A major gathering of world leaders in Jerusalem meant to highlight the world’s determination to learn the lessons of the Holocaust has become mired in controversy even before it has started, dragging Israel into a battle over history debates still raging in Europe three-quarters of a… Read more »

(JTA) – A Polish lawmaker at the European Parliament shared on social media a drawing showing cows at a slaughterhouse wearing striped uniforms with yellow stars like the ones the Nazis made Jews wear at concentration camps. Sylwia Spurek, a 43-year-old Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats representative, shared… Read more »

Susan Claassen will star in the Invisible Theatre’s production of “Becoming Dr. Ruth,” a one-woman show by Mark St. Germain, which will run Feb. 11-23. “It is a privilege and awesome responsibility to portray this amazing and iconic woman who has been a Jewish ‘She-ro’ to so many including… Read more »

RICHMOND, Va. (JTA) — Hedy Lapkin’s boyfriend wanted to attend the pro-gun rally in this capital city, but she had reservations. “My boyfriend has a lot of guns,” Lapkin, 79, said of her 83-year-old boyfriend. “He said, ‘You want to go to the rally?’ I said, ‘Are you out… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested immunity in the three corruption cases against him — and now the Knesset will discuss. The Israeli parliament’s Arrangements Committee said on Tuesday that the House Committee will begin immunity hearings on Jan. 30, though a House Committee has yet to… Read more »

CHICAGO (JTA) — A group of longtime employees is taking ownership of Milt’s Barbecue for the Perplexed, the popular kosher restaurant here that has been donating its profits to support local charities for seven years. Within months of opening in 2013, Milt’s menu of home-smoked meats and barbecue dishes… Read more »

(JTA) — The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, which preserves and promotes the study of Eastern European and Yiddish culture, has laid off four librarians to make up for a budget shortfall. The news was first reported by the Forward, which reported that the layoffs constitute the entire library… Read more »

(JTA) — President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine extolled Israelis as a “united, strong, powerful” and “unique” people in his first interview for an Israeli publication. The Times of Israel published the interview with the Jewish Zelensky on Sunday ahead of his arrival in Israel to attend the World Holocaust… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Benny Gantz said that following national elections in March, he will work to establish Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley “in coordination with the international community.” “We would like to reiterate that the Jordan Valley serves as the eastern border of the State of Israel in… Read more »

(JTA) — Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is flying a yellow flag to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day at his official residence in in the capital of Belgrade. The flag, which bears a Star of David and the word “Jude,” is meant to evoke the yellow star badge that Jews were… Read more »

(JTA) — Children caused the vandalism of a Jewish cemetery in Slovakia, in which at least 20 headstones were damaged, not extremists as was originally suspected. The gravestones were pushed over, causing some to crack, in mid-December in the northern town of Rajec. Police in the Zilina Region announced… Read more »