(JTA) – A prominent rabbi from Budapest rejected an unusual Hanukkah greeting from the far-right Jobbik party, citing its alleged anti-Semitism. Rabbi Slomo Koves, leader of the Orthodox Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation, in an open letter Wednesday spurned the greeting his office received earlier this week from the party’s chairman, Gabor Vona. “It’s a nice…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Gap will shut down its seven stores in Israel in 2017. Gottex Brands, also known as Zara Group Israel, which holds the GAP franchise in Israel, made the announcement Thursday, saying the brand failed to gain popularity, the Israeli business daily Globes reported. High prices were cited as one reason for the…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s attorney general reportedly will announce a criminal investigation into suspicion of bribery against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The country’s Justice Ministry on Thursday said it would issue an update about the case and announce the closure of others that are not supported by evidence. Netanyahu reportedly will be summoned for questioning,…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — President Reuven Rivlin of Israel called for the new year 2017 to be a year of “mutual respect, between people, and between nations.” Rivlin issued the nearly 3-minute recorded message on Thursday in advance of the secular new year. “There is no ignoring the fact that 2016 was a very difficult year….
(JTA) — Responding to Secretary of State John Kerry’s address on making peace between Israel and the Palestinians, many U.S. lawmakers said they were disappointed by the Obama administration’s decision to abstain on the vote in the U.N. Security Council of a resolution criticizing Israel for settlement building. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., the incoming Senate…
Richard Spencer, inventor of the term “alt-right” is leading Nazi salutes. Cadillac is recruiting “neo-Nazis” for a commercial. And now provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos signing a book deal worth $250,000. Yiannopoulos identified himself early on with the “alt-right,” but more with the folks who disdain what they call “political correctness” than with the ones who use…
Following his husband’s altercation with Ivanka Trump aboard a JetBlue flight, Marc Lasner is facing calls for his head, as thousands sign a petition to get him sacked from his professorship at New York’s Hunter College. “We believe his immature and cruel harassment of Ivanka Trump and her family at JFK airport should be met…
Christians have Santa Claus, but Jews got “Hanukka Harry”
The deaths of Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher over the past 48 hours have left the team behind the upcoming HBO documentary on the mother and daughter reeling from shock. “Bright Lights: Starring Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher” is a chronicle of the extraordinary bond that mother and daughter forged over six decades in the…
(JTA) — Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, will offer a prayer at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Hier reportedly will offer readings, recite an original prayer and give Trump and incoming Vice President Mike Pence each a benediction at the Jan. 20 ceremony. “Since the first inaugural…
(JTA) — President-elect Donald Trump said Israel is being treated “very, very unfairly” and accused the Obama administration of treating Israel with “total disdain” hours after Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech about Israel and making peace with the Palestinians. Trump spoke to reporters on the steps of his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida on Wednesday…
