Samuel Willenberg, the last survivor of the Treblinka camp revolt, has died. Willenberg, who escaped the Nazi death camp in 1943, died Friday at his home in Tel Aviv. He was 93. He was born in 1923 in Częstochowa, Poland, to a Jewish father and a mother who converted to Judaism from Orthodox Christianity, and…
(JTA) — Israeli Air Force navigator Ron Arad was tortured and killed two years after his plane went down over Lebanon, a Lebanese defendant in a military trial said. One of five suspected collaborators with Israel who recently appeared before a Lebanese military tribunal told the court he knew what happened to Arad, who ejected…
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called on the United States to ensure the viability of the two-state solution during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The two leaders met Sunday in Amman, according to Palestinian reports. Kerry was in Amman to meet with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh ahead of a meeting…
An Arab-Israeli rap artist won over audiences at the 66th annual Berlin International Film Festival, gleaning a top “public” prize for Israeli director Udi Aloni . “Junction 48,” which won the Panorama Audience Award for best feature, was one of two Israeli productions to take home prizes this year. It tells the story of a…
Three attempted stabbing attacks by Palestinian teenagers were thwarted in the West Bank. The three halted attacks took place on Sunday morning. No Israeli soldiers or civilians were hurt in the incidents. The first attempted attack occurred at about 8:30 a.m. at the Tapuach Junction in the northern West Bank, near the major settlement city…
The Jewish National Fund of Canada has withdrawn its sponsorship of the Jewish Federation of Vancouver’s Yom Ha’atzmaut event over the federation’s decision to feature controversial Israeli pop singer Achinoam Nini, known as Noa. “Due to the views of the entertainment booked for this year’s celebration, we will be taking a one-year hiatus from sponsoring…
France has named a Jewish woman as its new culture minister. Audrey Azoulay was named last week during a Cabinet reshuffle. She is the daughter of Andre Azoulay, an adviser to Moroccan King Mohammed VI, and writer Katia Brami. She is a native of Morocco. In 2014, Azoulay, 43, was named culture and communications adviser…
Bernie Sanders’ high-flying Democratic presidential campaign fell back to Earth on Saturday in Nevada. If the Vermont senator cannot quickly find a way to broaden his appeal to minorities and union members, last week’s 22-point rout of Clinton in New Hampshire could prove to be his campaign highlight. The race moves next week to South…
An array of Jewish groups joined a call on Senate leaders to consider whomever President Barack Obama nominates to replace Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Thirteen of the 31 groups signing the letter sent Friday to Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee were…
Germany’s branch of the BDS movement may have been forced to give up its bank account used for fundraising, according to a report in The Jerusalem Post. Jurgen Eikenbusch, spokesman for DAB Bank Munich, told JTA Thursday that he could not confirm that a decision had been made about the account of the BDS-Kampagne named…
In an unusual move, an Israeli rabbinical court excommunicated a scientist who refused to divorce his wife and ordered the publication of his name, photo and personal details. The Jerusalem-based rabbinical appeals court issued this week a herem – a writ of banishment — against Oded Guez, a physicist at Tel Aviv University, because he…
