Since the end of World War II, Vienna has functioned as an Ellis Island for Jewish refugees from Europe and the Middle East, a place where survivors, dissidents and religious minorities arrived with little more than documents and hope, and departed toward new lives. That role has come to an end: HIAS is shutting down […]
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I’ve been to Madrid twice, both times to perform ritual circumcisions, and both trips overlapped with some of the saddest yearly Jewish commemorations: Tisha B’av and, this year, International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The timing gave both visits a somewhat somber tone. On my outbound journey last week, I was stopped by Israeli security to check […]
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France has issued arrest warrants for two French-Israeli activists for “complicity in genocide,” a charge that stemmed from the pair allegedly blocking humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip. The arrest warrants were issued in July against Nili Kupfer-Naouri, the president of the organization Israel Is Forever, and Rachel Touitou, an activist with the organization […]
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British LGBTQ activist Peter Tatchell was arrested for holding a sign with the phrase “globalize the intifada” at a pro-Palestinian march in London on Saturday. Tatchell’s arrest comes weeks after the police in London announced that they would arrest pro-Palestinian protesters who chant “globalize the intifada.” While the common pro-Palestinian phrase is defended by its […]
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The legendary director Stephen Spielberg has become the ninth Jew to secure “EGOT” status after winning a Grammy for producing a documentary about the music of John Williams. Spielberg was awarded the Grammy for producing “Music by John Williams,” which won best music documentary, before the televised ceremony on Sunday. The win makes him the […]
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South Africa has expelled Israel’s top diplomat in the country, spurring Israel to respond hours later by removing South Africa’s envoy. The South African Foreign Ministry announced on Friday morning that it had declared Ariel Seidman, who was appointed chargé d’affaires at Israel’s embassy in South Africa last year, as persona non grata, calling on […]
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Italian rapper Ghali’s slated performance at the opening ceremony for this year’s Winter Olympics in Milan has drawn criticism from Italian leaders over his past activism against Israel. Ghali Amdouni, a prominent Milan-born rapper of Tunisian parents, will be joined by a host of performers including Andrea Bocelli and Mariah Carey during the opening ceremony […]
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A proposal by officials at Deutsche Bahn, the German federal railway system, is serving up a potential train wreck of gargantuan proportions when it comes to preserving the memory of the Holocaust. The officials have proposed a “preferred route” for a new high-speed rail line between Hamburg and Hanover that would run less than a […]
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I’ve never read a Holocaust chronicle quite like Lore Segal’s autobiographical 1964 novel, “Other People’s Houses.” Mordant, unsentimental and sometimes painfully honest, it’s the story of an Austrian girl sent to England on the Kindertransport, as well as a portrait of the artist as a young refugee. More than one of her legions of admirers […]
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Anna is a misunderstood sixth-grade girl who communicates with the ghosts of her Jewish ancestors. Teased by her classmates and worried-over by her family, she finds comfort and understanding with her Bubbe and her beloved Jewish traditions. “Neshama,” Marcella Pixley’s lyrically written novel-in-verse, won the gold medal for Jewish children’s literature for middle-grade readers from […]
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