Tagged HEADLINES

(JTA) — Anti-Semitic hate speech has risen dramatically since the start of the coronavirus crisis and must be rejected, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief said. “I am extremely concerned to see that certain religious leaders and politicians continue to exploit the challenging times… Read more »

(JTA) — Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and Holocaust imagery continue to be mainstays at anti-lockdown protests against governors and in state capitols. A placard at an anti-lockdown protest held Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, in front of the state capitol bore the image of the body of a rat standing on… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The worldwide population of Jews stands at 14.7 million, still falling short of the pre-World War II numbers, according to a report by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics. The figures, which are similar to the population of world Jewry in 1925, were released ahead of Yom… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz signed a deal Monday to form a “national emergency government” that keeps Netanyahu as the prime minister for now. Israel has spent more than a year under a caretaker government as neither Netanyahu, who heads… Read more »

(JTA) — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis became emotional during a news briefing about the coronavirus crisis in his state when a reporter said that the public has compared his stay-at-home order to Nazism. “As a Jewish American who lost family in the Holocaust, I’m offended by any comparison to… Read more »

(JTA) — The Sacramento Bee apologized for running a two-page ad that the Californian daily said contained anti-Semitic language. The ad appeared on April 10 and 12, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and featured a poem signed by a person named Robert Forest, the Jewish News of Northern California… Read more »

(JTA) — Israeli author and historian Yuval Noah Harari has pledged $1 million to the World Health Organization, or WHO, to mitigate the suspension of U.S. funding. “Unfortunately, the US president has chosen this moment to halt funding to the WHO,” Harari and Itzik Yahav, his husband, wrote in… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Just a few weeks ago, most Americans were not familiar with the concept of Zoombombing. But as the COVID-19 pandemic forced many business, community and even social meetings online, Zoom increasingly became the platform of choice for videoconferencing. The rapid growth in its use came with… Read more »

(JTA) — I wasn’t expecting HBO’s “The Plot Against America,” David Simon’s miniseries adaptation of the Philip Roth novel, to scar me the way it has. I work with news about the rise of anti-Semitism and hate crimes around the world on a daily basis. As an editor focused… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jewish institutions and organizations that hope to keep paying their staffs through the coronavirus pandemic are again in limbo with the federal government having exhausted the $350 billion set aside for payroll relief. The Paycheck Protection Program, which is administered through the Small Business Administration, doled… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The nominating committee of U.S. Jewry’s foreign policy umbrella has tapped as its next chair the immediate past chairwoman of the lead Jewish immigration advocacy group — one that has clashed repeatedly with the Trump administration. Dianne Lob of HIAS is the pick of the Conference… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Joe Biden welcomed the endorsement of J Street, the liberal pro-Israel lobby, on Friday. While it might seem like a small news item today, the moment represents something much larger: a consolidation of the group’s influence among mainstream Democrats. “I’m honored to have earned J Street’s first-ever… Read more »

B’nai B’rith Strauss Manor requests donations of DVDs/Blu-Rays and art supplies to occupy residents during the coronavirus pandemic. The Gerd and Inge Strauss Manor is a federally assisted multi-family senior housing project with 81 apartments. “I’ve started a library where residents can check out movies,” says Luz E. Gallego, Strauss… Read more »

BOSTON (JTA) – Thirty-two residents at two Jewish senior living facilities that are part of the same nonprofit network have died from COVID-19, and scores of other residents and staff have tested positive for the virus. Eleven residents of Chelsea Jewish Life Care, across its three Boston-area locations, and… Read more »

(JTA) — A senior Catholic priest in Romania priest who referenced fear of the coronavirus during a sermon about Christian disciples’ fear of Jews said that people who accused him of anti-Semitic speech were “biased” against him. Francisc Dobos, the spokesman for the Archdiocese of Bucharest, wrote this on… Read more »

(JTA) — A Brazilian television anchor was fired after proposing on air that a concentration camp be created to house patients diagnosed with the coronavirus. Marcao do Povo made the comment during Wednesday’s edition of Primeiro Impacto newscast, the second most-watched program on Brazilian television in the morning hours, reported Veja… Read more »

(JTA) — The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of a Jewish death row inmate in Texas who says his judge was anti-Semitic. Randy Halprin, 42, had been scheduled to be executed on Oct. 10, 2019 but was granted a stay of execution by the Texas Court of… Read more »

RAANANA, Israel (JTA) — A video clip featuring an Israel family performing “Hallelujah” has garnered thousands of views on social media. The Brombergs, who immigrated to Israel from São Paulo, Brazil in 2018, play and sing Leonard Cohen’s enduring classic song in English and Hebrew from their homes in… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel said that if Israel invents a vaccine for the coronavirus, those who reject normalization with Israel by boycotting it can still be given the vaccine. Omar Barghouti made the comments in a Facebook live Arabic-language… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israelis will be under a complete lockdown beginning on Tuesday through at least Friday to stem the spread of the coronavirus during the Passover holiday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the closure on Monday evening in a nationally televised address from his official residence in… Read more »