Author: David Leibermann

(JTA) — Rabbi Sharon Brous began a sermon at her Los Angeles synagogue last month with a content warning. “I have to say some things today that I know will upset some of you,” she began.  That same morning, across the country in New York City, Rabbi Angela Buchdahl was confessing something to her congregants, too: […]

(JTA) — The U.S.-based Israel Bonds organization is set to host Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right Israeli government minister, at an upcoming conference. The decision stands in contrast to hundreds of rabbis who have said they will not welcome Smotrich, the finance minister and leader of the far-right Religious Zionism Party, into their synagogues. They have […]

RA’ANANA, Israel (JTA) — Recurring bouts of laughter were some of the most remarkable moments of the funeral of Elan Ganeles, the 27-year-old Jewish American from West Hartford, Connecticut, who was shot dead this week when driving through the West Bank. Descriptions of an incredibly kind, open minded, funny, brilliant and humble young man came […]

(JTA) — In a defiant televised address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared protesters of his government’s proposed judicial overhaul to the West Bank settlers who recently rioted in a Palestinian village, burning houses and cars. Netanyahu, speaking for about seven minutes shortly after 8 p.m., warned that the protesters were crossing “red lines” and […]

(JTA) — Anti-LGBTQ politician Avi Maoz has resigned from the Israeli cabinet, claiming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu balked on letting him launch an initiative to shape Jewish identity. Maoz heads the Noam Party, one of three in the far-right Religious Zionist bloc that helped return Netanyahu to office. For the past two months, he […]

(JTA) —  An Orthodox Jew and Israeli left-wing political activist has raised more than $400,000 for victims of a recent settler riot in a Palestinian West Bank town. Yair Fink, a former Labor Party candidate known by the nickname Yaya, launched a crowdfunding campaign for the residents of Huwara, a Palestinian village in the northern […]

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Despite resounding condemnation from across the world and efforts by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to denounce the outbreak of Jewish violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, settler leaders remain defiant and are backing members of their community involved in what has been described as the one of the worst events […]

(JTA) — The day after hundreds of settlers rioted in the Palestinian West Bank village of Huwara, torching houses, shops and cars, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned their actions from the floor of parliament, declaring, “We won’t accept a reality where all do as they wish — igniting houses, torching cars, intentionally injuring innocents.” […]

(JTA) — Playing saxophone in the sukkah. Discussing Judaism over coffee. Hanging out with his brothers and friends in the basement on Shabbat.  These are a few of the memories that have emerged of Elan Ganeles, 26, the recent college graduate, raised in Connecticut, who was killed Monday when a gunman shot at him on […]

This is a developing story. (JTA) — An American citizen in his 20s was killed in a shooting on Monday near the Palestinian city of Jericho in the eastern West Bank, the latest attack in an escalating wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Tom Nides, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, identified the victim as a U.S. citizen. […]