JERUSALEM (JTA) — An earthquake measuring 3.8 on the Richter Scale was felt in the area of the Dead Sea. The epicenter of the temblor that took place early on Wednesday afternoon was Ein Bokek in southern Israel, according to Israel’s Geophysical Institute. There were no injuries or damage… Read more »
News
Dutch railways to compensate Holocaust survivors it helped transport
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — The Netherlands’ national rail company said it will compensate hundreds of Holocaust victims for its role in the genocide. Dutch Railways announced its plan Wednesday in a statement, specifying one-time payments of about $17,000 to each living Holocaust survivor it helped ship to death camps when… Read more »
Germans protest neo-Nazi rock festival by buying up an entire town’s beer supply
(JTA) — A group of Germans found a new way to protest neo-Nazism: buying beer. A German court had already banned alcohol at the Shield and Sword Festival, a white nationalist rock music event held this past weekend in Ostritz, a German town near the border with Poland. The… Read more »
Dutch rapper drops Anne Frank stage name following outcry over anti-Semitism
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — The Dutch rapper who went by Anne Frank said Wednesday that she will change the name following an outcry and the revelation of past anti-Semitic statements. The 25-year-old performer, whose real name may be Anne van der Does, according to the GeenStijl website, said she was shortening… Read more »
Jared Kushner’s peace conference brings a minyan to 19th-century Bahrain synagogue
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jason Greenblatt, President Trump’s top Middle East negotiator, led Jewish prayer services at a synagogue in Bahrain this week, during the conference there that rolled out the economic portion of the Trump administration’s peace plan. Greenblatt mustered an Orthodox minyan — a quorum of 10 adult… Read more »
At Israel’s first student-run health clinic, the mantra is health care for all — and it’s free
Sponsored content from JTA: HAIFA — At the Ruach Tova Health Center in this northern Israeli city, three medical students are hard at work trying to keep up with the steady flow of patients. Nicole Kasher, a third-year student from Los Angeles, reviews patient charts. Galilee native Neta Sagi… Read more »
Barcelona’s oldest house is now a Jewish cultural center
BARCELONA, Spain (JTA) — Tucked away in one of the narrow streets of this city’s El Call neighborhood, a former Jewish ghetto that these days house upscale shops and restaurants, sits the oldest residential house in Barcelona — a nondescript white stone building full of history. The house was… Read more »
Gary Rosenblatt stepping down as editor and publisher of The New York Jewish Week
(JTA) — Gary Rosenblatt, the editor and publisher of The New York Jewish Week for 26 years, is stepping down. Under his stewardship, the newspaper started Write On For Israel, an educational/advocacy program to prepare high school students for the Mideast debate on campus, in 2002; and The Conversation,… Read more »
Labour readmits key Corbyn ally who said British party is too apologetic on anti-Semitism
(JTA) — A key ally of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who was suspended from the British party for sayings it is “too apologetic” over anti-Semitism has been readmitted. A party ethics panel warned lawmaker Chris Williamson on Wednesday for saying earlier this year that when it comes to Labour’s… Read more »
UN marks 25th anniversary of AMIA bombing saying it will hold a global conference of terror victims
(JTA) — The United Nations said it will hold a global conference of terror victims while commemorating the 25th anniversary of the attack on the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The U.N. said the aim of the conference will be to come up with concrete recommendations on… Read more »
Jared Kushner launches Bahrain workshop on economic plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jared Kushner, the key architect of the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, launched a conference in Bahrain to advance the economic portion of his plan. “The Peace to Prosperity vision is a modern framework for a brighter and more prosperous future,” Kushner said Tuesday in the capital city… Read more »
How Jews have reacted to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s concentration camp comments
NEW YORK (JTA) — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been getting plenty of criticism since referring to migrant detention centers at the U.S.-Mexico border as “concentration camps.” “The U.S. is running concentration camps on our southern border, and that is exactly what they are,” the freshman New York Democrat said June… Read more »
A former lawmaker hopes HBO’s ‘Chernobyl’ spurs change in Israel
(JTA) — The HBO historical drama “Chernobyl,” which dramatizes the events surrounding the 1986 nuclear explosion in the now-Ukrainian city, has generated plenty of buzz around the world. In addition to garnering critical acclaim, the series has renewed conversation about the incident and even spiked tourism to the area of… Read more »
White House unveils economic portion of Middle East peace plan
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Days ahead of a workshop where Jared Kushner will seek tens of billions of dollars for his Middle East peace plan, the White House unveiled an outline of its economic portion, including proposals, like a Gaza-West Bank travel corridor, that are sure to rattle Israel’s government.… Read more »
The Catholic Church has finally gotten serious about handling sexual abuse. Here’s what Jewish institutions could learn from the process.
WASHINGTON (JTA) – In May, Pope Francis issued a detailed ruling on how officials in the Roman Catholic Church must handle cases of clerical sexual abuse, the first official codification of the church’s global policy. Though abuse survivors have criticized the pope’s ruling as not strong enough and for… Read more »
Harvard dropped a Jewish pro-gun Parkland student over past racist comments. Was it justifed?
NEW YORK (JTA) — Kyle Kashuv rose to prominence after having survived the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. While some of his classmates went on to become gun reform activists on the left, Kashuv took a different course. A self-described political conservative, the… Read more »
The Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez concentration camp debate, explained
NEW YORK (JTA) — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised a ruckus when she said detention centers holding undocumented immigrants on the southern border are “concentration camps.” “The U.S. is running concentration camps on our southern border, and that is exactly what they are,” the freshman New York Democrat said Monday… Read more »
Tucson interfaith rally draws support for activist Warren
Dozens of faith leaders from across Southwestern borderlands, including two local rabbis, rallied June 5 in front of the U.S. District Courthouse in downtown Tucson in solidarity with Arizona State University geography instructor and activist Scott Warren, Ph.D. A volunteer with the Tucson-based aid group No More Deaths, Warren… Read more »
Shinshiniyot b’not mitzvah to precede farewell
Weintraub Israel Center’s shinshiniyot (Israeli teen emissaries), Ron Benacot and Rotem Rapaport, will be called to the Torah as b’not mitzvah Saturday, June 15 at Temple Emanu-El. “I had my bat mitzvah when I was 12,” said Benacot, “but where I grew up in Israel, it’s not common for… Read more »
Community volunteers recognized for outstanding work
This is part two of a series on the Jewish agency volunteers who received 2019 Special Recognition Awards at the Jewish Community Awards celebration held May 9 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The evening also included the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s annual meeting. Ellen Saltonstall, Jewish History… Read more »