Category: World News

(JR) — As we mark the grim second anniversary of the Ukraine conflict this Shabbat, I’m reminded of a haunting melody I heard in the city of Poltava last month. I was standing before Sonia Bunina, a plucky 17-year-old, when she opened her mouth to sing when an air raid siren rang out. I flinched. […]

BUENOS AIRES (JR) — Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, is shuttering the country’s anti-discrimination office, eliciting rare criticism from Jewish leaders who have so far expressed optimism about the right-wing politician’s leadership. “Discrimination in Argentina is a problem suffered by various groups. That is why the DAIA, together with other organizations, promoted the creation of […]

YEREVAN, Armenia (JR) — It’s just after sunset on a chilly February evening as Mama Jan begins filling up with customers. The cozy little café, located on Alexander Speniaryan Street — one block from Yerevan’s Freedom Square — lures passersby with its traditional khashlama (Armenian meat stew), dolma (stuffed grape leaves) and grappa (homemade brandy). […]

BERLIN (JR) — Two weeks ago, Shai Hoffman and Ahmad Dakhnous didn’t even know each other. Now the Israeli and Palestinian in Berlin have completed an audacious three-day experiment in trying to help their fellow Germans talk more constructively about the Israel-Hamas war. Hoffman and Dakhnous brought a Tiny House — a one-room shed on wheels […]

(JR) — The Jewish French-Moroccan journalist Ruth Elkrief — who has delivered TV news in France for over 30 years — found herself at the center of the story when she was placed under police protection in December. Elkrief received the security detail after an online attack from the far-left politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon. In a post […]

(JR) — A bronze statue of the late Jewish singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse was defaced when a sticker with the Palestinian flag was placed over the statue’s Star of David necklace. The management of Camden Market, where the statue is located, said the sticker was removed and that the incident had been reported to police, who […]

When Rabbi Avraham Wolff leaves the Mishpacha Children’s Home in Odessa, Ukraine, most evenings, he whispers a silent prayer.  He prays that the 120 children for whom his organization cares will be able to sleep through the night, uninterrupted by air raid sirens and a race to the bomb shelter. He prays that the food, […]

(JR) — Leah Goldstein seemed like a natural fit to be the keynote speaker at an International Women’s Day event in Ontario, Canada, next month. A Canadian cyclist, she made history as the first woman to win a grueling 3,000-mile bike race across the United States. But in January, five months after accepting the invitation, […]

(JR) — A rabbi at several British universities who drew hundreds of death threats after flying to Israel to serve as a reserve soldier after Oct. 7 is now in hiding with his wife and two children on the recommendation of police. Both the University of Leeds and British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis have condemned […]

(JR) — The top rights court in Europe has ruled that bans of ritual slaughter in parts of Belgium can stand, ending the hopes of Jewish advocates who had said the bans were an unfair infringement on Jewish practice. Two of Belgium’s three regions banned slaughter without stunning in 2017 and 2018, saying that the […]