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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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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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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A disagreement over how to define the sources of rising antisemitism in Europe escalated into a public clash this week between two prominent Jewish leaders, with tech billionaire Elon Musk intervening to back the U.S. government’s antisemitism envoy over a prominent European rabbi. The dispute centers on remarks made Wednesday at the World Economic Forum […]
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MADRID — Until recently, a Jew could wander all day in Madrid without finding a bagel. But now, in a sea of tomato toasts and potato omelettes, a trail of people hovers every weekend outside the Mazál bagel restaurant. Behind it is Tamara Cohen, a Philadelphian who became Spanish through a law granting citizenship to […]
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An art gallery in Canada has been roiled by resignations after it narrowly voted not to acquire works by Jewish photographer and outspoken pro-Palestinian activist Nan Goldin over accusations that she holds antisemitic views. The resignations of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s modern and contemporary curator and two members of its modern and contemporary collections […]
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BERLIN — A Berlin district court has found a rabbi guilty of “sexual assault and sexual coercion by exploiting a moment of surprise,” a misdemeanor under German law. The criminal case was brought by the Berlin public prosecutor and by one of multiple women who have accused the rabbi of a range of sexual abuses […]
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