A group of former government ministers and members of Knesset launched a broad public campaign on Monday, calling for a referendum on the future of the territories as the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Six-Day War approaches. Several civic organizations, along with intellectual figures and cultural and academic leaders have also joined the initiative. Those…
— A Jewish member of the British Parliament was put under police protection after receiving an anti-Semitic death threat on Facebook. Ruth Smeeth, 37, a member of the Labour Party, told British media that she holds party leader Jeremy Corbyn personally responsible for the actions of his supporters. The Facebook message repeatedly called Smeeth a…
Former Dutch prime minister and longtime pro-Palestinian activist Dries van Agt said Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal who should be prosecuted during his visit this week to the Netherlands. Van Agt, who in 2012 said Jews should have had a state in Germany instead of the Land of Israel and who in 2008 spoke…
— A far-right party in Germany finished second in voting in the political home state of Chancellor Angela Merkel, ahead of Merkel’s party, spurring concerns among Jewish leaders in Germany. Alternative for Germany, known as AfD, with its anti-immigrant and ultranationalist platform, picked up 21 percent of the vote Sunday in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, behind the center-left…
(JTA) — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was gifted a traditional Jewish prayer shawl by a pastor during a visit to a black church in Detroit. Bishop Wayne Jackson of the Great Faith Ministries in Detroit draped the tallit around Trump’s shoulders after the candidate finished addressing the congregation. “Let me just put this on…
Women of the Wall prayed under police presence at the Western Wall this morning after the group complained to Israel’s attorney general about the lack of protection at their monthly prayer service. The group, which advocates for equal prayer rights for men and women at Judaism’s holy site, was on edge ahead of its prayer…
(JTA) — The Philadelphia Police Department launched an internal investigation of one of its officers after a photo circulated online of the officer sporting a tattoo resembling a symbol used by the Nazis. The image of Officer Ian Hans Lichtermann was posted to Facebook by Evan Parish Matthews, who said he took the photograph at…
(JTA) — A Canadian football team has signed a player who tweeted anti-Semitic messages even after being fined in 2015 for doing so. The Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League signed lineman Khalif Mitchell Wednesday, drawing criticism from a Canadian Jewish group. “We are deeply troubled that Mitchell is continuing to spread messages of…
Supporters of Jewish Democratic congressional contender Josh Gottheimer believe his rival belongs in the Deep South. A campaign ad released Friday by the House Majority PAC, takes aim at Republican incumbent Scott Garrett known for his ultra-conservative views which, the ad claims, do not fit his New Jersey constituency. “His views are perfect for a…
KAZAN, Russia — Hundreds of Israeli and European Jews convened in the capital of the predominantly Muslim Russian state of Tatarstan for an annual Jewish music festival as well as a Jewish learning Limmud FSU conference. The two events, which coincide with a third — the Sept. 4 European Day of Jewish Culture — kicked off Friday evening…
The group that created “The Great Schlep,” a Jewish initiative that promoted Barack Obama’s presidential run in 2008, has written an anti-Donald Trump musical to be performed across the country. The musical, called “Chump,” is a satire of Trump’s Republican presidential campaign modeled on “The Great Dictator,” Charlie Chaplin’s 1940 satire of Adolf Hitler. Its…
