Police raid homes of mohels in Antwerp, in investigation into possible illegal circumcisions

Police in Belgium searched three private homes on Wednesday as part of an investigation into illegal ritual circumcisions, according to local news reports. Two of the homes were in Antwerp’s Jewish Quarter and the third was in the city’s Green Quarter, according to the Belgian news site VRT, which reported that the investigation was initiated […]

Continue Reading

South Africa’s chief rabbi supports Donald Trump — but says his refugee program for Afrikaners is a ‘mistake’

When Donald Trump entered his second term as president, he found a full-throated supporter in South Africa’s chief rabbi. Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein said in February that South Africans “should welcome the Trump administration’s interventions” in the country’s affairs, praising the president in a widely distributed video message. A vocal critic of the South African […]

Continue Reading

Authorities arrest self-proclaimed ‘king’ of Germany and ban his antisemitic group

The German government banned a far-right antisemitic group that claims the German Reich still exists and arrested four of its leaders — including the self-proclaimed “king” of Germany. The group, the “Kingdom of Germany,” is the largest organizing group of the Reichsbürger, or “citizens of the Reich” movement, which believes that the country’s Nazi-era 1937 […]

Continue Reading

Margot Friedlander, German Holocaust survivor who landed a Vogue cover, dies at 103

Margot Friedlander, a Holocaust survivor who grew prominent in Germany after returning from the United States decades after surviving the Holocaust, has died at 103. The Margot Friedlander Foundation announced her death on Friday, just weeks after opening applications for a 25,000 euro prize to recognize efforts to fight antisemitism and promote democracy. Friedlander was […]

Continue Reading

How the global Hillel movement connects Jewish communities across continents

Cleaning up beaches near Rio de Janeiro and learning about Jewish environmental values. Connecting with Jewish study abroad students in London. Discovering the richness and plurality of Jewish traditions at Israeli cultural centers from Haifa to Sderot. Exploring the intersection of art and Jewish identity in Berlin. And helping Jewish students rebuild, physically and emotionally, […]

Continue Reading

Germany formally classifies far-right AfD party as extremist, drawing Jewish group’s praise

Weeks after it was shut out of Germany’s new government, the far-right party Alternative for Germany has been designated as an extremist group by the country’s domestic intelligence agency.  The move is another blow to the party, known as AfD, following its unprecedented second-place finish in national elections earlier this year. The party has a […]

Continue Reading