European film festivals hit with controversies over Israel-Hamas war

(JR) — The war between Israel and Hamas continues to divide the cultural world, as two European film festivals this week found themselves embroiled in controversy over their handling of both Israeli and pro-Palestinian filmmakers. The Stockholm International Film Festival, in Sweden, apologized Monday for what it said was a “misunderstanding” surrounding a planned guest, […]

Continue Reading

UK cabinet member Suella Braverman fired after saying police are more lenient with pro-Palestinian protesters

(JR) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak fired his home secretary, Suella Braverman, on Monday, days after she published an op-ed arguing that British police are more lenient with pro-Palestinian protesters than they are with far-right ones. The article, published without Sunak’s approval, highlighted how divisive pro-Palestinian protests have been in the United Kingdom and […]

Continue Reading

Mass rallies in France to oppose antisemitism contrast with wave of pro-Palestinian marches worldwide

(JR) — An estimated 180,000 people in France marched in rallies against antisemitism on Sunday that brought together political leaders from most of the country’s major parties, a display that stood in contrast with major pro-Palestinian marches held worldwide throughout the weekend. Among the marchers in Paris were Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne, the daughter of […]

Continue Reading

Melbourne synagogue evacuated on Shabbat as tensions over Israel-Hamas war flare in Australia

(JR) — A synagogue in the Australian city of Melbourne was evacuated on police order on Shabbat as pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated nearby. The Friday evening Shabbat services were halfway over at Central Shul in Caulfield, a heavily Jewish neighborhood, when the police and synagogue security team advised everyone to leave as a precaution, according to […]

Continue Reading

Bullets fired at 2 Montreal Jewish schools amid local spike in antisemitic incidents

MONTREAL (JR) — Bullets fired at two Montreal Jewish schools in the midst of the Israel-Hamas war have traumatized the local Jewish community, with some parents wondering if they should keep their children home. Evidence of single bullets fired were found on the doors at the Talmud Torah elementary branch in the Montreal’s Snowdon district […]

Continue Reading

On 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Holocaust survivors say they feel familiar antisemitism

(JR) — The comparisons are easy to draw: broken glass, burned buildings, shuttered businesses, dead Jews. Eighty-five years after Kristallnacht, the anti-Jewish riots that marked a brutal turning point in the Nazi campaign of persecution in Germany, Holocaust survivors say what happened in southern Israel on Oct. 7 — and how they have seen the […]

Continue Reading