Susan Sarandon and Melissa Barrera among Hollywood figures facing blowback for stances on Israel and Jews

((JR)) — The star of a blockbuster horror franchise and an Oscar-winning veteran actress saw their careers take a hit this week over their public comments on Jews and Israel in some of the most high-profile examples yet of how the ongoing Israel-Hamas war has impacted Hollywood. Variety reported Tuesday that Melissa Barrera was recently […]

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Israeli and Polish national soccer teams hold unauthorized moment of silence before European qualifying match

(JR) — Israel’s under-21 men’s national soccer team took the field on Friday for the first time since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that killed and injured thousands and brought much of Israeli life, including sports, to a standstill. The Union of European Football Associations, Europe’s football governing body, had reportedly rejected a request to hold […]

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Oct. 7 nearly derailed Berlin’s famous Israeli-Palestinian restaurant. But it’s back in business.

(JR) — On the morning of Oct. 7, as the horrors unfolding in southern Israel reverberated through mobile screens and live-streamed videos across the world, a hummus restaurant in Germany closed its doors. Behind Kanaan, a restaurant in northeastern Berlin serving up hummus, salads and falafel, is a rare Israeli-Palestinian partnership. Oz Ben David grew […]

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The world’s first Israeli-Palestinian boy band accidentally picked a wild moment to make their debut

((JR)) — The world’s first Israeli-Palestinian boy band landed in Los Angeles to start recording songs on Oct. 6, the day before Hamas attacked Israel and kicked off a war in Gaza, a new feature from Billboard magazine reveals. As1one — pronounced “as one” — is a group of four Jewish Israelis and two Palestinians, […]

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‘Unorthodox’ author Deborah Feldman is a lightning rod in Germany’s debate about criticizing Israel

(JR) — The TV series “Unorthodox” took the world by storm in 2020. Now, recent comments about Israel by the story’s Berlin-based Jewish heroine, author Deborah Feldman, have created a storm of another kind. Feldman, 37, a dual American-German citizen, rose to fame through her story of fleeing the Satmar Hasidic community of Brooklyn to the […]

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A Yiddish musical about life in Jewish ghettos during WWII carries new resonance since Oct. 7

(New York Jewish Week) – “Humanity’s most true history is written only in blood. How Jews died, the entire world already knows.” So says Broadway star Steven Skybell at the beginning of “Amid Falling Walls,” a new musical from the National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene. “But how Jews resisted against and fought the murderers, we know […]

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Spanish politician who on Oct. 7 said Palestinians have ‘right to resist’ is made a cabinet minister

(JR) — A Spanish politician who said that Palestinians have “the right to resist after decades of occupation” on Oct. 7, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, was named Spain’s minister of children and youth on Monday. Sira Rego, who has been a member of the European Parliament since 2019, has a Palestinian […]

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