Investigators employed by special counsel Robert Mueller are looking into presidential adviser/son-in-law Jared Kushner’s conversations with Israeli officials during the presidential transition process, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Last December, the Obama administration chose not to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution that was critical of Israeli settlement construction. In the run-up to…
(JTA) — Like any self-respecting author, Ann D. Koffsky checks her Amazon rankings on a regular basis. “A little bit ridiculously,” she acknowledged. Yet when she noticed the rating for her most recent book had dropped to one-star overnight, it wasn’t so funny — especially once she started reading the user reviews. “This book is…
NEW YORK (JTA) — A year after Facebook vowed to stamp out discriminatory advertising, landlords can still exclude specific races, minorities and other categories of people from seeing rental ads on the social media site. ProPublica bought dozens of rental housing ads last week and had no issue filtering out Jews, African-Americans, Spanish speakers and…
A new GPS device for navigation has been designed specifically for Hasidic Jews who might otherwise be averse to using smartphones. Some have taken to calling the kosher, rabbi-approved device “the Ark” — because, apparently, it looks something like the ark of a Torah. A blog post on Tablet featured the new device, which can’t…
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Rep. Eliot Engel has become the first U.S. congressman to be featured on a postage stamp in Kosovo. Engel, a New York Democrat, may be the first Jewish member of Congress on a stamp, period. Bella Abzug helped inspire a 1999 stamp celebrating the women’s rights movement, but the late New York…
A popular Facebook group for New York moms has temporarily shut down amid an internal battle sparked by the promotion of a children’s book called “P is For Palestine.” The group “UES Mommas,” which has more than 27,000 members, usually posts about strollers and tutors. But when the author of the new book, Golbarg Bashi,…
(JTA) — Four Penn State University students are being charged with stealing a 9-foot menorah from the home of the campus Chabad rabbi and leaving it damaged outside a traditionally Jewish fraternity. The students, who were caught on surveillance camera footage late last month placing the damaged menorah on the porch of the Sigma Alpha…
A conference organized by white nationalist Richard Spencer on a farm this weekend was quickly curtailed after the farm owners discovered his role in the event. Spencer’s think tank, the National Policy Institute, hosted around 100 people at an events space at Rocklands Farm in Maryland on Saturday, The Washington Post reported. The event space…
(JTA) — Former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters responded to criticism from Australian singer Nick Cave, telling him the artists’ boycott of Israel “isn’t about music – it’s about human rights.” Cave and his band, The Bad Seeds, played to sold-out crowds on Sunday and Monday in Tel Aviv. Prior to his concerts, Cave told…
MIAMI (JTA) — One candidate for governor is a former congresswoman and the daughter of a former governor and U.S. senator. Another candidate is a mayor who grew up in a blue collar African-American family. A third political newcomer is a Harvard graduate who builds affordable housing. Florida has been known as a place where…
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Ilan Mengistu knows his pitch to rescue his brother, Avera, should be a no-brainer to Jews — “pidyon shvuyim,” the redemption of the hostage, is among the greatest of commandments. But Mengistu also knows that the story he has to tell is not the straightforward narrative longed for by those who would…
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