It’s been a tough few years for Woody Allen, now 80. With allegations of sexual abuse accompanying critical and box office disdain for his professional work, the quintessential face of Jewish secular culture in the 70s, 80s and 90s has seemed to fade into irrelevance at best and, at worst, possible shame. But he has…
A group of activists demanded the Boston Jewish Community Relations Council retract its recent statement criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement’s platform. According to a statement from the Jewish anti-occupation group IfNotNow, some 50 people gathered at the council’s Boston offices on Monday to express their support for Black Lives Matter. “We refuse to follow…
(JTA) — A city in northwestern Ukraine authorized the placing of a traveling zoo on the mass grave of thousands of Jewish Holocaust victims, a leader of the country’s Jewish community said. Eduard Dolinsky, the director of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee, wrote Monday on Facebook about the traveling zoo that was erected this summer in the…
— Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazi gas chambers, was executed in a Soviet prison, according to a KGB head’s diaries. The diaries of Ivan A. Serov, who ran the former Russian secret police and intelligence agency from 1954 to 1958, were discovered inside the walls of his second…
— Jewish-American woman’s gymnast Aly Raisman earned a spot in the individual all-around competition at the Olympics in Rio. Raisman took the second spot for the American women ahead of all-around defending gold medalist Gabby Douglas and behind three-time world all-around champion Simone Biles. The American women’s gymnastics team came in first place in the…
Olympic athlete Katie Ledecky’s heritage has always been important to her — her faith and her family push her to succeed both in swimming and in life. Ledecky, who on Sunday broke her own world record — becoming the first woman in history to swim below 3.58 for the 400-meter freestyle — won her second medal…
JERUSALEM — A new Israeli government task force is being formed to deport anti-Israel activists at work in the country. The committee, announced on Sunday by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and Interior Minister Arye Deri, will locate activists for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement who are in the country, and will prevent BDS…
(JTA) — Dr. Jill Stein, a Boston-area Jewish internist, was officially nominated as the Green Party’s candidate for president. Stein was nominated Saturday at the party’s three-day convention in Houston. African American human rights activist Ajamu Baraka was nominated as her running mate. In her acceptance speech, Stein appealed to supporters of failed Democratic candidate Sen….
A Palestinian representative of U.S.-based Christian charity World Vision denies Israeli allegations that he funneled millions of dollars in aid money to the Islamist militant group Hamas, his lawyer said on Sunday. Mohammad El Halabi, World Vision’s manager of operations in the Gaza Strip, was arrested by Israel on June 15 while crossing into the…
JERUSALEM — A pipe bomb was discovered in the parking lot outside of the pilgrimage site of Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem in the West Bank. The area was sealed off and the bomb was neutralized by police sappers late Sunday morning, Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. No damage was caused by the exploding pipe…
RIO DE JANEIRO — Members of the Lebanese delegation refused to ride in the same bus with Israeli athletes en route to the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympics held on Friday evening at the Maracana stadium. When the Lebanese coaches and athletes discovered they would share a bus with Israelis from the Olympic village to…
