Tagged burkini

Burkini debate in France exposes a divide in its Jewish community

A Tunisian Muslim woman, right, wearing a burkini swimsuit wading in the water on a beach near Tunis, Aug. 16, 2016. (Fethi Belaid/ AFP/Getty Images)
September 19, 2016 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

(JTA) — Like their constituents, the mainstream representatives of French Jewry are not known for passing up opportunities to express their opinion on subjects of national debate. And Jewish institutions in France, like those in the United States, regularly comment on a host of issues, including divisive ones that lie… Read more »

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK A Yom Kippur apology to France’s most famous anti-Semite

Dieudonne M'bala M'bala leaving a Paris courthouse, Feb. 4, 2015. (Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images)
September 1, 2016 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

  (JTA) — It kills me to say this, but I may owe a Yom Kippur apology to Dieudonne M’bala M’bala. My extensive reporting about this French comedian of Cameroonian descent consistently portrayed him as a fanatical, vulgar and racist provocateur whose acts serve as a thinly veiled pretext for venting a… Read more »

Burkini ban is great for business, says Israeli-French maker of modest swimsuits
August 26, 2016 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA
Sea Secret’s “Magic Marine” modest swimsuit (Courtesy of Sea Secret)

AMSTERDAM (JTA) — According to the latest tally, at least 30 French municipalities have banned the product that the Paris-born businesswoman Yardena G. sells for a living. Yardena, a haredi Orthodox mother of nine from Jerusalem, owns the Sea Secret fashion label of modest swimwear for devoutly religious women.… Read more »