Cnaan Liphshiz
By Cnaan Liphshiz
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Fast Forward Afghanistan’s last Jew has fled the country
(JTA) — Zebulon Simantov, the last remaining Jew in Afghanistan, has finally left the country for fear of persecution by the Taliban, an Israeli television channel reported. Simantov, the 62-year-old former keeper of Kabul’s lone remaining synagogue, left the country for the United States in recent days with several other exiles, the Kan broadcaster in…
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Fast Forward After 9/11, the US helped thwart a major al-Qaida attack in Israel, ex-FBI agent says
(JTA) — Al-Qaida had planned to carry out a massive terrorist attack on Israeli dance clubs in 2002 but was thwarted with the help of U.S. intelligence operatives, a former FBI researcher said. Ali Soufan, who with other agents had monitored al-Qaida for the FBI both before the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center…
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Fast Forward Mikvahs unearthed at Vilnius synagogue destroyed by Nazis
(JTA) — Archaeologists have unearthed parts of the Great Synagogue of Vilnius, a 17th-century building, that were presumed to have been destroyed by the Nazis and Soviets. One of the main findings from that section of the synagogue, whose ruins have been catalogued and mapped for several years in the current dig, are two mikvahs,…
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Fast Forward Owners of Ukrainian cafe housed in a former synagogue say logo resembling Nazi symbol was a ‘font gone wrong’ mistake
(JTA) — The owners of a Ukrainian cafe housed in a former synagogue said they worked two lightning rods into the logo to advertise the reenergizing qualities of the coffee there. Instead they waded into a political minefield because they ended up reproducing the symbol of the SS, Nazi Germany’s murderous elite force. On Tuesday,…
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Fast Forward Israel’s chief rabbi wants exhumation of Jerusalem woman who allegedly pretended to be Jewish
(JTA) — The office of Israel’s chief Ashkenazi rabbi wants to exhume from a Jerusalem cemetery the body of a woman said to be a Christian who pretended to be Jewish. A top representative of Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau outlined the plan in June to exhume or alternatively fence off the woman’s grave. Or…
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Fast Forward What we know about Zebulun Simantov, Afghanistan’s last Jew who still won’t leave the country (or divorce his wife)
(JTA) — Amid the Taliban’s total takeover of Afghanistan this week, some had specific concerns about one person: that country’s last remaining Jew, 62-year-old Zebulun Simantov. Simantov, who has in recent years lived in Kabul’s only synagogue, said earlier this year that he would leave before the Taliban arrived, possibly for Israel. He has also…
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Fast Forward Lithuania abandons plan to build conference center atop former Jewish cemetery
(JTA) — Lithuania’s government has shelved controversial plans to build a flashy conference center on what used to be a Jewish cemetery in the capital city of Vilnius because of how the COVID-19 pandemic “has changed the conference tourism market and environment.” The Chancellery of the Government of Lithuania made the statement to the news…
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Fast Forward Porn sites are not removing antisemitic content, watchdog group says
(JTA) — Antisemitic porn videos are trending on adult content websites, which ignore calls to remove them, an Israel-based watchdog group said. The nonprofit group, Fighting Online Antisemitism, or FOA, has identified dozens of videos on major adult content sites, including xvideos and XNXX. Some feature actors dressed as Nazi officers acting out rape scenes…
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