Author: Jesse Orine

(JTA) — Labour members attending the British party’s annual conference passed a rule on how they will handle antisemitism complaints, leading the party’s leader to declare that they had “closed the door this evening to antisemitism in the Labour Party.” “We’ve turned our back on the dark chapter. Having closed that door, that door will […]

(JTA) — Zebulon Simantov, who was the last Jew living in Afghanistan, granted his wife a Jewish ritual divorce after refusing to do so for decades, according to reports. He left Afghanistan earlier this month, following the Taliban’s takeover of the country, after at first rebuffing efforts to get him out. He now wants to […]

(JTA) — Germany’s pivotal national election takes place on Sunday, and one thing is sure: After 16 years in office, Chancellor Angela Merkel will not be at the helm any more. Who comes next? Pundits predict a new three-way coalition of center-left and moderate parties — most likely the Social Democrats, led by current Vice […]

BERLIN (JTA) — Rising antisemitism, Germany’s relationship with Israel, pensions for aging Soviet immigrants — these are just some of the issues Jewish voters across Germany are considering before casting their vote in Sunday’s federal election. The nation is replacing the retiring Chancellor Angela Merkel after a monumental 16 years in the position. The latest […]

(JTA) – A female police officer allegedly wrote fawning letters to the imprisoned gunman who attempted to attack a synagogue in Halle, Germany on Yom Kippur in 2019. The unnamed officer, a police commissioner in the Dessau-Roßlau district, has been suspended pending a further investigation, according to the German news agency DPA. The gunman, Stephan […]

(JTA) – At a political rally in Berlin in June, a young Jewish gay man wearing a turquoise kippah launched his campaign to represent one of Germany’s most ethnically diverse constituencies in parliament. The man, 34-year-old Marcel Yaron Goldhammer, promised to stoke the “embers of unity, justice and freedom” during his announcement speech in front […]

(JTA) — Mervyn Taylor, who was reportedly the first Jewish person to serve as a cabinet minister in Ireland, has died at the age of 89. Taylor, who died of cancer in London Thursday, served for about four years as equality and law reform minister between 1993 and 1997, under Ireland’s Labour party. In total, […]

(JTA) — Several church groups in Norway are organizing a photo exhibition from the West Bank, to be displayed in a cathedral, whose text states that Palestinians undergo “daily crucifixions.” The exhibition, which has prompted protest by the country’s Jewish community and a pro-Israel group, is part of Church Week for Peace in Palestine and […]

(JTA) — After a German court criminalized the nonmedical circumcision of boys in 2012, Angela Merkel did something very out of character for the “rule-of-law chancellor,” as she has been nicknamed. Merkel said the ruling, which was brought against a person who circumcised a Muslim child, put Germany at risk of becoming a “laughingstock.” Her […]