Jesse Orine -

Ed Miliband, Britain’s new Jewish foreign secretary has a long history of support for – and disagreement with – British Jews

July 21, 2026July 21, 2026Jesse Orine

Tapped to become Britain’s new foreign secretary, Ed Miliband said he would strive to honor the memories of his Holocaust refugee parents. “My parents came to Britain as Jewish refugees from the Nazis,” Miliband tweeted just hours after Prime Minister Andy Burnham named him to the post. “To them, Britain was both a sanctuary and […]

Argentina’s Jews turn a World Cup chant into a call for justice 32 years after the AMIA bombing

July 20, 2026July 20, 2026Jesse Orine

BUENOS AIRES — If the phrase Argentina’s Jewish community has adopted to mark the 32nd anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in the country’s history sounds familiar to their compatriots, it’s intentional: “Today we cannot lose … our memory” echoes the soccer-mad nation’s World Cup slogan. Fans chanting “Today we cannot lose” were ubiquitous throughout […]

Hungarian Jewish chess legend Judit Polgár declines offer to fill presidency

July 20, 2026July 20, 2026Jesse Orine

The Jewish chess legend Judit Polgár has declined an invitation to become Hungary’s president, a largely ceremonial position that would have increased the visibility of one of the country’s most celebrated Jewish figures. “I do not feel enough strength within me to take on the historic responsibility of uniting a divided nation, so I am […]

As Israel urged caution, these Syrian Jews lobbied the U.S. to lift sanctions on Syria

July 20, 2026July 21, 2026Jesse Orine

“Mouaz, what do you think, should I go?” The day after Henry Hamra learned that Islamist rebels had ousted Bashar Assad from power — ending more than six decades of Ba’athist rule over Syria — he was on the phone with his friend Mouaz Moustafa, the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force. The […]

Where does Andy Burnham, the new British prime minister, stand on Israel and antisemitism?

July 20, 2026July 21, 2026Jesse Orine

Andy Burnham officially became Britain’s new Labour prime minister on Monday, replacing Keir Starmer who resigned following the party’s disastrous showing in local elections in May. Starmer left behind a mixed record on antisemitism. He purged the party of its image as hostile to Jews under former party leader Jeremy Corbyn. But at the same […]

Lost Holocaust music, nearly erased by Stalin, goes on tour in Asia

July 17, 2026July 17, 2026Jesse Orine

In the midst of the Holocaust, a child sang a song about his mother’s death in the Bershad ghetto, a pocket of current-day Ukraine that was occupied by Romania and Nazi Germany. In the song, the child watches strangers come and pray for his mother, and other strangers carry her away to be buried, but […]

Colombia and Slovenia recently recognized a Palestinian state. Now they’re moving their embassies to Jerusalem.

July 17, 2026July 17, 2026Jesse Orine

JERUSALEM — Colombia, the world’s second most populous Spanish-speaking nation after Mexico, has little in common with landlocked Slovenia, the second-smallest of the six republics that once comprised Yugoslavia. But when it comes to their stance on Israel, the parallels are hard to ignore. Within one month of each other, leftist, pro-Palestine governments in both […]

Inside America’s first prison synagogue, a new exhibit tells the story of Jewish inmates who built it

July 16, 2026July 16, 2026Jesse Orine

Behind the imposing stone walls of Eastern State Penitentiary — the Philadelphia prison that once held Al Capone — sits a small, unlikely sanctuary: a synagogue built by inmates, for inmates, nearly a century ago. Now, a new exhibition is telling its story. Eastern State Penitentiary, in Philadelphia’s Fairmount neighborhood, was an active prison from […]

Michael Solomonov’s restaurant group says anti-Israel boycott did not cause closure of 6 locations

July 14, 2026July 14, 2026Jesse Orine

CookNSolo, the Philadelphia restaurant group co-founded by the Israeli-American celebrity chef Michael Solomonov, announced this week that it would close six locations across two of its fast-casual chains. In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, owner Steve Cook blamed the closures on inflation, declining lunch traffic and an oversaturated market for fast-casual dining. But pro-Palestinian […]

Five countries over four days: How Cuba’s Maccabiah Games delegation made it to Israel

July 14, 2026July 14, 2026Jesse Orine

Nearly three decades after Hella Eskenazi’s first trip from her home in Cuba to the Maccabiah Games in Israel, the journey hasn’t gotten much easier. This time, she was joined by dozens of athletes who had to travel through five countries over more than four days to reach Israel — a consequence of both the turmoil […]