MEDFORD, Mass. (JTA) — Pro-Israel students at Tufts University say a new course on Palestine is one-sided and demonizes Israel, and violates the university’s own policies on taking political stances. The course, taught by Thomas Abowd, a faculty member in the American Studies program, was first reported by Jewish News Syndicate. The JNS story sparked…
The Trump administration will announce a decision within days to cancel funding for a U.N. agency that supports Palestinian refugees, several people familiar with the decision said on Friday. The administration pledged $60 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in January but withheld another $65 million pending a review. That remaining…
(JTA) — A top representative of French Jewry condemned harshly what he called anti-Semitic rhetoric of a Republican politician who called the republic’s leader “President Rothschild.” Francis Kalifat, president of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish communities, on Thursday wrote on Twitter that he considered “revolting” Fabien Di Filippo, The Republicans’ secretary general, message…
(JTA) — An employee at Congregation Beth Elohim, a Reform synagogue in Brooklyn, has been arrested for a sexual assault he committed in the synagogue building. The incident occurred on Saturday night, according to an email the synagogue’s leadership sent congregants on Thursday. The victim was not connected to the synagogue. “On Saturday night, August…
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones lost a bid to dismiss a defamation lawsuit brought against him by the parents of a boy killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre, according to court documents released on Thursday. Judge Scott Jenkins in Travis County, Texas, where Jones lives, said Jones’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit was “in…
(JTA) — Vanessa Redgrave is unapologetic for referring to “Zionist hoodlums” during her Academy Award acceptance speech 40 years ago. On Thursday, the veteran actress told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview ahead of receiving a lifetime achievement Golden Lion Award from the Vienna Film Festival that she felt a responsibility to speak out no…
LYUBAVICHI, Russia (JTA) — Things are beginning to turn around for Valentina Prilashkevitch and her neighbors because their village is the cradle and namesake of Chabad-Lubavitch – one of the largest and most influential Hasidic movements in Judaism. In recent years, the village has started to attract hundreds of visitors every month, prompting the local…
First, Andrew Gillum’s Republicans foe warned against “monkeying around” by voting for him — and now the trailblazing African-American Florida gubernatorial candidate is getting the “George Soros” dog whistle treatment. Soros, the Jewish billionaire financier and philanthropist who has long been a bogeyman to everyone from Fox News to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to Israeli…
“Crazy Rich Asians” has been a surprise hit at the U.S. box office this summer, but what are the chances of a sequel called “Crazy Rich Asian Jews”? It might sound fanciful, but the author of the trilogy upon which the film is based says powerful Jewish families also exist among Asian society’s wealthy elite….
(JTA) — Four headstones were toppled at a Jewish cemetery in New Jersey. The toppled headstones were discovered on Sunday at the Congregation Agudath Achim Cemetery in Freehold Township in New Jersey. The headstones were pushed over sometime on Saturday or early Sunday morning, according to local reports. No other acts of vandalism were discovered…
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Maccabee Task Force, the initiative funded by billionaire philanthropist Sheldon Adelson targeting the campus BDS movement, will double its presence to 80 campuses and for the first time will operate in Canada. In place since 2016, the task force works with pro-Israel students on programs countering activities of the Boycott, Divestment…
