Tagged HEADLINES

Nancy Pelosi leads congressional delegation to Poland and Israel

(JTA) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, leading a congressional delegation to Poland and Israel to commemorate 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, laid a wreath at the former Nazi camp on Tuesday. Pelosi joined her Polish counterpart, Elzbieta Witek, the speaker of the Sejm, the lower house of… Read more »

Biden mocks Trump’s claim to speak against anti-Semitism

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Joe Biden mocked President Donald Trump’s claims to speak out against anti-Semitism, saying the president is dividing the country and turning a blind eye to white supremacists. “President’s talking about how he’s worried about anti-Semitism,” Biden told The New York Time’s editorial board in an interview… Read more »

Trump adds Alan Dershowitz to his impeachment team

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Alan Dershowitz, the constitutional scholar, will join President Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team. “Professor Dershowitz will present oral arguments at the Senate trial to address the constitutional arguments against impeachment and removal,” New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman quoted Trump’s legal team as saying on Friday.… Read more »

Muslims chant about killing Jews outside Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque

(JTA) — Hundreds of Muslims chanted about killing Jews outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Friday morning, prompting police to disperse the crowd. The chants began as worshippers were leaving the mosque following prayers atop the Temple Mount, Israel’s Channel 13 reported. No one was injured in clashes… Read more »

Ukrainian parliament commemorates Holocaust for the 1st time

(JTA) — Ukraine’s parliament for the first time commemorated the Holocaust ahead of the international date in memory of the victims. The Verkohvna Rada in Kyiv held a memorial ceremony on Thursday ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27. The date was designated in 2005 by the… Read more »

Anti-Semitic incidents decreased by 27% in Ukraine in 2019, Jewish group says

(JTA) — A Jewish organization in Ukraine said that the number of anti-Semitic incidents documented there last year decreased by 27 percent over 2018. The United Jewish Community of Ukraine, one of several groups representing Ukrainian Jewry, said in a report published Monday that it has documented 66 anti-Semitic… Read more »

Netanyahu and Putin discuss fate of jailed Israeli backpacker Naama Issachar

JERUSALEM (JTA) –Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin about regional developments and about the case of an American-Israeli woman jailed for drug smuggling. “The conversation was warm and to the point and strengthened the Prime Minister’s optimism that the issue of the… Read more »

Italian police arrest suspected synagogue vandal caught on video

(JTA) – Police in the northeast Italian city of Trieste analyzed security videos to identify and arrest a man suspected of vandalizing the city’s synagogue twice in the past few months. The suspect was accused of breaking two windows “for the purposes of ethnic-religious hatred,” police said. A statement… Read more »

Mike Pence to attend Holocaust forum in Israel

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Vice President Mike Pence will attend a conference on the Holocaust in Israel. The White House announced Wednesday that Pence and his wife, Karen, would attend the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, in Jerusalem on Jan. 23. This year’s conference coincides… Read more »

Synagogues should not arm ordinary congregants, Jewish security agency says

(JTA) — If synagogues hire armed guards, they should be trained police officers, a top Jewish security agency says in a new report. Armed congregants who are not law enforcement officers “are unlikely to have experience dealing with high-stress situations,” according to the report issued Wednesday by the Secure… Read more »