World

TIRASPOL, Transnistria (JTA) — Officially, this disputed sliver of land between Ukraine and Moldova is called the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. But to visitors to Transnistria, a breakaway region that declared its independence in the 1990s but which most of the world considers part of Moldova, it looks more like… Read more »

(JTA) — Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that if he is re-elected next week, he’ll immediately annex a big part of the West Bank: the Jordan Valley. That’s kind of a big deal. On the other hand, it’s not really — yet. That specific eastern swath of the West Bank… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Despite our differences, Jews around the world have remained bound together by a shared history, by the Torah and by our core values, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin told Jewish thinkers from around the world. The 30 scholars and activists met this week in Jerusalem to hammer… Read more »

(JTA) — John Bercow, the British House of Commons speaker who became widely known for his cries of “Order!” and other colorful rhetoric, announced Monday that he will resign his post by the end of October. Bercow is Jewish and said last year: “I’ve always been very open about… Read more »

LONDON (JTA) — Twenty years ago, this city’s oldest maker of smoked salmon endured a series of catastrophes that convinced its Jewish owner that his family business was a goner. In 1999, a fire consumed three-quarters of its factory. A year later, flooding forced it to relocate. A year… Read more »

(JTA) — The Israel-based humanitarian group IsraAID, B’nai B’rith International and Chabad are among those pitching in to help the Bahamas in the wake of Hurricane Dorian’s devastation, which has killed at least seven people. “We are in the midst of a historic tragedy in parts of the northern… Read more »

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Pope Francis had an audience at the Vatican with representatives of Hispanic Jewry from his native Argentina, as well as from Spain and the United States. The meeting details were revealed Monday by the chief Sephardic rabbi of Buenos Aires, Isaac Sacca. The U.S.… Read more »

(JTA) — Since early June, protesters in Hong Kong have been gathering multiple times a week to fight what they see as Chinese attempts to encroach on their freedoms. The police have responded violently at times, shooting tear gas and rubber bullets at the crowd. One demonstration drew an… Read more »

Cody Blumenthal brought home a gold medal from his participation on the age 18 and under Team USA basketball team at the 14th Pan American Maccabi Games in Mexico City, July 5-15. “Winning gold with my new best friends was the best feeling in the world,” he says. Every… Read more »

David Tannenbaum of Hereford, Arizona, was the sole bicycling competitor in Team USA’s Master Division at the 2019 Maccabi Pan American Games in Mexico City, July 5-15.  He finished in eighth-place in the 55-59 year age group, receiving a medal for completing all three races. “That makes me the… Read more »

BUDAPEST (JTA) — In 2011, Hungary’s largest Jewish group called on the Justice Ministry to ban the far-right Jobbik party, describing it as “anti-Semitic” and “fascist.” Now some in the Jewish community, and even inside Mazsihisz, see Jobbik as a legitimate partner for effecting democratic change, despite its blunt… Read more »

(JTA) — When Israel announced that it would deny entry to Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the decision struck many as an unprecedented step. But Israel has blocked multiple lawmakers from coming in recent years. The difference this time is that it’s lawmakers from the United States who are… Read more »

(JTA) — The editor of a prestigious Belgian daily defended an op-ed described as anti-Semitic, saying its critics were trying to silence criticism of Israel. The column, written by Dimitri Verhulst, was published July 27 in De Morgen and quickly drew outrage. It describes Jews in Israel as land… Read more »

(JTA) — Canada is not changing the date of its national elections, even though they fall on a Jewish holiday. Chief electoral officer Stéphane Perrault announced Monday that he would not recommend changing the date, which coincides with the last days of Sukkot. Last week the country’s federal court ordered him to… Read more »

(JTA) — Monday’s Google doodle is of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat stationed in Lithuania during World War II who defied the Nazis by issuing life-saving visas to thousands of Jews. The Simon Wiesenthal Center estimates that as many as 40,000 people are alive today because of Sugihara’s efforts,… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party has launched a new ad campaign featuring Russian President Vladimir Putin, coinciding with one of the Kremlin’s largest crackdowns on political dissent in years. Large multi-story banners featuring Netanyahu with Putin, as well as others featuring President Donald Trump and… Read more »

(JTA) — In the capital of Lithuania, an institution formerly known as the Museum of Genocide Victims barely mentions the murder of nearly all the country’s Jews by Nazis and locals, focusing instead on the years of abusive Soviet rule. In Kaunas, Lithuania’s second-largest city, another so-called museum hosts… Read more »

(JTA) — A former Nazi SS soldier was charged with denying the Holocaust in Germany. Karl Munter, 96, was indicted in the German state of Lower Saxony on Wednesday for questioning the extent of the Holocaust and offensive comments he made about the victims of a massacre of civilians… Read more »

(JTA) — Following protests, authorities in eastern France rescinded a ban they had issued forbidding soccer fans from Israel from flying their country’s flag in the streets of Strasbourg. The prohibitions, which are unusual and provoked vociferous criticism, came in a four-page order Thursday from the head of the Bas-Rhin… Read more »

(JTA) — Yuval Noah Harari, an internationally celebrated historian from Israel, omitted criticism of Russia from a translation of a book to avoid censorship there, he said. The criticism was “liable to be censored by the Russian government,” Harari told Haaretz in an interview published Thursday about the Russian-language… Read more »