Category: World News

(JTA) — The German branch of international fast-food chain KFC apologized to customers Wednesday for sending out a promotional message tied to the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the evening of Nazi-led antisemitic riots that precipitated the mass murder of Jews during the Holocaust. “It’s memorial day for Kristallnacht! Treat yourself with more tender cheese on your […]

BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — Jorge Luis Borges, one of South America’s canonized writers, wrote many poems in his esteemed career — including at least two about Israel. In 1967, after the Six-Day War, the Argentine poet, essayist and short story writer compared the Jewish state to a “man imprisoned and bewitched… a man doomed to […]

(JTA) — A Russian official has apologized after his deputy published an op-ed that referred to the Chabad-Lubavitch movement of Orthodox Judaism as a “neo-pagan cult” striving for “global domination.” Top leaders of Chabad in Russia, who have been navigating a fine line in their relationship with the government during the country’s war on Ukraine, […]

RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — As the left-wing former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva completed a triumphant return to politics by beating incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in a tight election on Sunday, Brazilian Jewish groups welcomed him with a conciliatory message they hope will cool down the polarization within their deeply split 120,000-strong community. “President […]

(JTA) — Thousands marched to the grave of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in Predappio on Sunday to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of his coming to power in Rome, days after the new Italian prime minister, whose party has fascist roots, decried the Italian race laws of the 1930s that targeted Jews. The crowd of […]

(JTA) — King Charles III wants to make sure that the United Kingdom’s chief rabbi can make it to his coronation ceremony next year — so much so that he’s letting the Jewish leader sleep over at his house. The coronation is set for May 6, 2023, which falls on a Saturday, in the middle […]

(JTA) – This week, Jewish communities across the United States are commemorating the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the anti-Jewish riots that marked a brutal turning point in the Nazi campaign of persecution. In Germany, cities and towns also will commemorate this day, but under a different name. They refer to the events of November 9-10, 1938, […]

(JTA) — The London-based theater group behind a Romeo and Juliet-inspired Nazi-Jewish love story has canceled the play after receiving an onslaught of criticism related to the story’s premise and a botched casting call. The Icarus Theatre Collective, the group behind the play, put out a casting call on Friday for their “Romeo and Juliet” […]

(JTA) — Italy’s newly-appointed undersecretary at the infrastructure ministry, Galeazzo Bignami, is causing controversy after a photograph of him wearing a Nazi swastika armband was published in an Italian newspaper. The scandal has come in the midst of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s push to distance herself from her party’s ties to neo-fascists. The photo was […]

(JTA) — A BBC article about an attack on a bus full of Jewish students celebrating Hanukkah last year contained “significant editorial failings,” according to a report released by the British government’s media regulator on Monday. Last November, the bus was driving along London’s Oxford Street when it was accosted by a group of men […]