(JTA) — Greece has appointed a health minister who defended the antisemitic writings of his father in court more than a decade ago. Thanos Plevris, who was named to his post as part of a government reshuffle, said Wednesday in a statement that he did not mean to offend anyone with his 2009 defense. In […]
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BUDAPEST (JTA) — Jewish communities in Hungary opened two new synagogues as part of the annual Jewish Cultural Festival in this capital city. One is situated in the bustling center of Budapest, while the other is a 50-seat synagogue in an apartment building. The latter — the Vorosmarty Street Synagogue — is owned by MAOIH, […]
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(JTA) — Last month, Francois Amalega Bitondo was standing on a Montreal street, megaphone and cellphone in hand, protesting against COVID-19 vaccines. A bright yellow six-pointed star stood out against his black T-shirt. The star, which read “unvaccinated,” was an explicit reference to the yellow Stars of David that Jews were forced to wear during […]
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(JTA) — Jewish American Ian Seidenfeld upset the world No. 1 to win gold in table tennis at the Tokyo Paralympics on Saturday. The 20-year-old has now followed the footsteps of his father Mitchell, a four-time Paralympic table tennis medalist who won gold in Barcelona in 1992. The elder Seidenfeld now coaches the Team USA […]
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(JTA) — Iran’s new government includes two men who have been implicated in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people. On Wednesday, the parliament approved Ahmad Vahidi as interior minister and Mohsen Rezai as vice president of economic affairs among the 19 nominations by President Ebrahim Raisi. […]
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(JTA) — Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit seeking to recognize Jews who suffered under Vichy race laws in Morocco as Holocaust victims entitled to state compensation payments on Thursday, according to a report in Haaretz. A panel of three justices refused to hear the case, upholding a lower court’s ruling that the discrimination against […]
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(JTA) — The city of Potsdam, Germany, has its first new synagogue since the Holocaust — and it’s quite a looker. The synagogue is part of the newly inaugurated European Center for Jewish Learning at the University of Potsdam, which will also be the umbrella for the school’s School of Jewish Theology founded in 2013 […]
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(JTA) – Following an international outcry, Amsterdam said its city-owned museum should return a Wassily Kandinsky painting that it had acquired from a Jewish family that was under duress during the Holocaust. Possession of “Painting with Houses,” which is believed to be worth at least $22 million, should be transferred from the city-owned Stedelijk Museum to […]
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(JTA) — Zebulon Simantov, Afghanistan’s last Jew, has not left Kabul, despite the best efforts of some Jewish figures and organizations. One of them was Moshe Margaretten, a haredi Orthodox fixer whose passion is bringing Jews out of danger. Margaretten paid Moti Kahana, an Israeli-American businessman who helped extract people from war-torn Syria, to be […]
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(JTA) — In his first Paralympic Games, 21-year-old Israeli swimmer Mark Malyar has made history: He won gold for Team Israel and set a new world record in the men’s 200-meter individual medley (SM7) category. Malyar swam the race in a time of 2:29.01. The SM7 category includes swimmers who have limited leg function, or […]
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