(JTA) — A former high school classmate of Blaze Bernstein, 19, the Jewish college student found dead in a park near his parents’ Southern California home, pleaded not guilty to murder charges. Samuel Woodward, 20, of Newport Beach, California, was ordered held on $5 million bail, after he issued his plea on Friday in Orange County…
Natalie Portman’s first appearance hosting “Saturday Night Live” in 12 years featured a sequel to her hardcore rap that went viral in 2006. In her new appearance, the Harvard-educated, Oscar-winning actress made vulgar and often violent references to being a mother, her work with the “Time’s Up” initiative and even the widely-derided “Star Wars” prequels:…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli officials at the Kerem Shalom crossing thwarted an attempt to smuggle explosives into the Gaza Strip in a shipment of medical equipment. The seized materials were identified as a central component used in the preparation of explosive charges and in the high-trajectory industry in the Gaza Strip, the Ministry of Defense…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel began the process of serving deportation notices to African refugees from Eritrea and Sudan. The notices started being distributed on Sunday, according to reports. The first notices will be issued to single men without children, a total of about 20,000 men. The men, who have to renew their residence visas every…
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A Republican congressman says he gave Chuck Johnson, a notorious right-wing troll who once denied the Holocaust, a ticket to the State of the Union because he seemed polite. Johnson has been banned from numerous platforms for his online “trolling,” or harassing those with whom he disagrees. He has said he believes…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros of funding the widespread public campaign against the Israeli government’s plan to deport thousands of African migrants and asylum-seekers. Netanyahu made his remarks during a meeting of ministers from his Likud party, according to Israel’s Channel 10. Netanyahu was reportedly responding to Science…
People are getting high in the Holy Land for a good cause. In a recent episode of “Bill Nye Saves the World” in which Nye explore medical marijuana, he sends a correspondent to Israel for a segment called “How is Israel healing the world with marijuana.” The episode highlights the progress Israel has made in…
Many Jews will go to extreme lengths to find kosher food, and Super Bowl Sunday is no exception — even when that means braving a tailgate in expected subzero temperatures. U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, which is hosting Super Bowl LII, does not have a kosher concession stand. So a group of rabbis affiliated with…
WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — Germany was responsible for the Holocaust, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on the heels of Polish legislation that seeks to distance the country from Nazi atrocities. “Poland can be sure that any form of falsification of history, like the term ‘Polish concentration camps,’ will be unequivocally rejected and strongly condemned by…
WASHINGTON (JTA) — If there’s overlap between Hillel and the National Council of Jewish Women, it’s in two areas: defending Israel and combating violence against women on campus. Leaders of the campus Jewish organization took a look at the record of Kenneth Marcus, President Donald Trump’s nominee to run civil rights at the Department of…
(JTA) — Lawmakers from four political parties in Iceland introduced a bill in parliament that would ban the nonmedical circumcision of boys younger than 18 and impose imprisonment of up to six years on offenders. Members of the ruling Left Green Movement, the Progressive Party, People’s Party and the Pirate Party submitted the bill to…
