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Fast Forward Ukraine-Born Jan Koum’s $19B WhatsApp Sale 10% of Homeland’s GDP
(JTA) — Jan Koum’s birthday was Monday, but he received his big gift early. The Ukraine-born CEO and founder of WhatsApp has catapulted from relative unknown to a poster boy for rags-to-riches immigrant triumph since his rapidly growing messaging company was sold last week to Facebook for a record-breaking $19 billion. Koum, who just turned…
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Fast Forward Ukraine Jews Hunker Down Amid Turmoil
The turmoil in Ukraine has left one of Europe’s largest Jewish communities on edge. After an outbreak of violence in Kiev last week that left dozens of protesters and policemen dead, President Viktor Yanukovych fled the capital and parliament installed an interim leader to take the still-contested reins of power. Like their compatriots, Ukraine’s Jews…
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Opinion Ukraine’s Reform Rabbi Cheers Protest’s Victory
A man stands beside a military oven in Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine. / Getty Images Over the weekend, the Forward contacted Ukraine’s chief Reform rabbi, Alexander Dukhovny, to ask him about how he felt seeing the months of protests on Kiev’s central square lead to a clear resolution in the president’s ouster. This is…
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Fast Forward Synagogue in Eastern Ukraine Struck by Firebombs
A synagogue in eastern Ukraine sustained minor damage from firebombs hurled at it by unidentified individuals. The firebombs hit the Giymat Rosa Synagogue in Zaporizhia, located 250 miles southeast of Kiev, on the night of Feb. 23, according to a report Monday on the news site timenews.in.ua. The website published photos that showed the traces…
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Fast Forward Jewish Agency Offers Emergency Aid To Ukraine’s Jewish Community
The Jewish Agency said it would offer immediate emergency assistance to Ukraine’s Jewish community and will help secure the country’s Jewish institutions. Saturday evening’s announcement by Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky came hours after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych fled Kiev and the Ukrainian parliament announced new presidential elections for late May. Violent protests led to…
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Opinion Ukraine: Don’t Scapegoat Your Jews and Muslims
Back in May 2011, the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, which I serve as president, co-sponsored an international conference in Kiev together with the Ukrainian Jewish Committee to fight against anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Ukraine and around the world. During the conference, I met many wonderful Jewish and Muslim Ukrainians — mainly from the Crimean Tatar…
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News WhatsApp Founder Jan Koum’s Jewish Rags-to-Riches Tale
WhatsApp grew up in Silicon Valley, but its founder’s Jewish background in Eastern Europe gave it its DNA. The messaging company bought by Facebook for $19 billion in a deal announced on Wednesday has become a global force, with 450 million customers who find it an easy way to send messages across borders and between…
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Opinion Kiev Is Burning
(JTA) — The scenes from Kiev are reminiscent of Cairo in 2011— or perhaps the Battle of Stalingrad or revolutionary Paris. A ring of burning barricades surrounds the stage on which opposition leaders, European Union parliament members and protesters speak. Images in the news are filled with blood and smoke, burning cars, streets denuded of…
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Opinion The one crucial domain in which Iran outwitted Israel
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Fast Forward Israel says slain brother of Michigan synagogue attacker was a Hezbollah commander
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Fast Forward Amsterdam Jewish school bombed, in 2nd attack in days on Dutch Jewish institution
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