Amid Eurovision tensions, Israelis find allies in Austria’s youth Green party and a cafe

As anti-Israel boycotts and protests roiled this year’s Eurovision song contest in Vienna, some Israelis attending the competition have found unlikely allies: Austria’s youth Green movement and a local café that has openly embraced them. Earlier this week, Israel’s entrant, Noam Bettan, faced “stop the genocide” chants during his semifinal performance, and the competition went […]

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‘The Wanderers’ tells the story of Poland’s Holocaust survivors who fled to the Soviet Union

Like many Holocaust survivors, Daniela Gerson’s grandparents lived by the vow to “never forget, never forgive” the annihilation of their Polish Jewish hometown at the hands of the Nazis.  They took less interest in commemorating their own story of survival by leaving their beloved Zamość, Poland. Before understanding the mass extermination to come, they escaped […]

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A former Lubavitcher became a scholar of ex-Orthodox Jews. Now he’s telling his own story.

Memoirs of leaving the Orthodox Jewish world have become a genre with their own familiar arc.  The protagonist flees an oppressive religious world, is ostracized by family and former friends, and emerges into secular freedom — damaged perhaps, but liberated. Readers consume these books partly as anthropology, partly as self-help and, critics sometimes complain, partly […]

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Writer of sitcom airing instead of Eurovision in Ireland calls broadcaster’s boycott over Israel ‘disgraceful antisemitism’

Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan accused Ireland’s public broadcaster of “disgraceful antisemitism” over its decision not to air this year’s Eurovision Song Contest because of Israel’s participation — even as his work will get prime airtime as a result. Instead of airing the annual international song contest’s finale Saturday, which Ireland and four other nations […]

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Michael Jackson biopic revives legend of Jewish music mogul who battled MTV’s ‘color barrier’

About halfway through “Michael,” the new blockbuster biopic of Michael Jackson, there is a scene in which Jackson (played by his nephew Jafaar) and his lawyer, John Branca (Miles Teller), are sitting with the president of his record label. It’s early in Jackson’s “Thriller” album cycle, as “Billie Jean” has been released as a single, […]

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