Category: World News

(JTA) — Jewish leaders in Italy had strong words for the president of the country’s parliament after he published a post on Instagram honoring the history of the Italian Social Movement, or MSI, a neo-fascist party founded in the wake of World War II.  Ignazio la Russa, a senator from Cologno Monzese, a municipality in […]

(JTA) — Providing a window into Jewish communities across the globe, on the ground — from European metropolises to more isolated outposts — has always been part of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s mission. This year, our reporters ventured into places where Jews and Jewish life are at risk, including Ukraine — where we sent several […]

RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Jewish groups in Brazil are calling for a retraction after one prominent Brazilian economist questioned the loyalty of a Brazilian Jewish economist during an interview streamed by a widely viewed news organization. The comments were about Ilan Goldfajn, a Brazilian-Israeli economist who was recently elected president of the Inter-American Development Bank, […]

(JTA) — Latin America’s largest online retailer has stripped its digital shelves of antisemitic content this year, the result of a push by the regional branch of the World Jewish Congress. Mercado Libre (“free market” in Spanish) was founded in 1999 in Argentina by a Jewish businessman there; it boasts 76 million users, making it […]

(JTA) — Hanukkah may be considered a “minor holiday,” as rabbis will say, but its resonance and unique traditions offer a great window into Jewish communities around the world. We’ve rounded up eight images, one for each candle of the menorah, that give a snapshot into how Jews — and, in a couple instances, how […]

(JTA) — Israel’s National Library accepted 22 volumes of archives from the Irish Jewish Family History Database, which tracks over three centuries of Jewish life in Ireland. The database, which was compiled by Stuart Rosenblatt, president of the Irish Jewish Genealogical Society, includes everything from burial and birth records, compiled by a Jewish midwife in […]

(JTA) — A 97-year-old German woman whose trial for aiding Nazi crimes was briefly derailed when she fled last year has been convicted of complicity in 10,500 concentration camp murders. Irmgard Furchner was 95 when she was arrested and charged with crimes related to her work as a secretary at the Stutthof concentration camp in […]

(JTA) — Jim Carr was close to death from myeloma, a blood cancer, when he gave one of his last interviews to the Canadian national broadcaster, the CBC. The Jewish Liberal member of the Canadian parliament from Winnipeg went on air ostensibly to speak about the passage of a bill he authored promoting an environmentally […]

(JTA) — Yes, Lionel Messi will forever be the face of Argentina’s long-awaited World Cup championship on Sunday. But the voice of the victory belongs to the Argentinean Jewish sportscaster who cried as he announced the win. Andres Cantor, a prominent soccer announcer, responded to Argentina’s game-winning penalty shot with his signature elongated “Gooooooool!” In […]

BERLIN (JTA) — The fight over control of Germany’s Reform rabbinical school has taken a new twist — one that appears poised to shatter longstanding institutions within liberal Judaism here, and reforge them into something new. The Central Council of Jews in Germany announced Thursday that it is bringing in an outside expert to help […]