Category Archives: Judaism

Police arrest pro-Palestinian protesters outside of New York Stock Exchange

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Hundreds partake in demonstration, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, against Israeli attacks on Gaza and Lebanon

New York City police arrested numerous pro-Gaza protesters outside the New York Stock Exchange on Monday after a demonstration highlighting Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza and Lebanon.

Demonstrators voiced chants such as “Let Gaza live!” and “Up up with liberation, down down with occupation!” and managed to get inside a security fence outside the exchange on Broad Street in downtown Manhattan.

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Dutch row over which victims of Nazis get ‘stumbling stone’ plaques

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Commemorations of 45 people ‘experimentally’ gassed reveal dark moments in the Netherlands’ history

They call them stumbling stones – little brass plaques in the pavement marking addresses where Holocaust victims once lived.

As the Netherlands marks 80 years of liberation, a row has sprung up about placing Stolpersteine for 45 Dutch political prisoners – Jewish activists, communists, critical Christians – who were “experimentally” gassed by the Nazis at the Bernburg psychiatric clinic in Germany in 1942.

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Trump bemoans lack of support from Jewish voters and blames ‘Democrat curse’

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In disjointed Washington speech, nominee tells audience low numbers are because of ‘the Democrat curse on you’

Donald Trump has complained bitterly to Jewish donors that a majority of Jews vote against him in US presidential elections, suggesting that the Democratic party has a “curse on you”.

The Republican presidential candidate made the remarks during a speech on Thursday at the Israeli-American Council national summit in Washington, where he used hyperbolic language to warn that victory for his opponent Kamala Harris would result in Israel being wiped off the map.

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Columnists quit Jewish Chronicle over Gaza stories based on ‘fabrications’

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David Baddiel and Jonathan Freedland among those to resign over articles by former IDF soldier Elon Perry

A number of prominent columnists have resigned in protest from the Jewish Chronicle after allegations it printed articles about the Gaza conflict that were based on “wild fabrications”.

The weekly title, the world’s oldest Jewish newspaper, is facing calls for an investigation after it deleted nine articles by Elon Perry because of doubts over their accuracy and concerns he had misrepresented his CV.

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Pakistani man in Canada charged with planned mass shooting of Jewish New Yorkers

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Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, arrested near US border after allegedly planning attack with undercover agents

A Pakistani man living in Canada is facing federal criminal charges for allegedly planning to carry out a mass shooting in New York against Jewish people on the anniversary of the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack in Israel, the US justice department announced on Friday.

Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, was arrested Wednesday in Canada and charged with attempting to provide material support as well as resources to a foreign terrorist organization – in this case, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.

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Trump tells Jewish donors they would be ‘abandoned’ if Harris is elected

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In Las Vegas summit speech, Republican candidate paints potential Harris presidency in cataclysmic terms for Israel

Donald Trump told Jewish donors on Thursday that they would be “abandoned” if Kamala Harris becomes president.

In his speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas, the Republican presidential candidate also said he would ban refugee resettlement from “terror-infested” areas such as Gaza and arrest “pro-Hamas thugs” who engage in vandalism, an apparent reference to the college student protesters.

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Man suspected of attempted arson against synagogue arrested in France

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Ministers call for more security around Jewish schools and places of worship after incident in La Grande-Motte

French police have arrested a man suspected of attempted arson against a synagogue in the southern France city of La Grande-Motte, acting interior minister Gérald Darmanin said on X.

The incident in the Mediterranean resort east of Montpellier is being investigated by France’s specialist antiterrorism prosecutor.

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Intel sued by fired Jewish employee over ex-supervisor’s alleged antisemitism

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Plaintiff in New York case says he lost job after complaining that his manager openly celebrated terrorism against Israel

A Jewish former employee of Intel sued the chipmaker on Tuesday, saying he was fired after complaining that the senior executive he reported to openly celebrated antisemitism, Hamas and terrorism against Israel.

The plaintiff, a former vice-president of engineering using the pseudonym John Doe, said Intel fired him on 2 April in a purported cost-cutting move barely two months after assigning him to report to Alaa Badr, vice-president of customer success.

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National religious recruits challenge values of IDF once dominated by secular elite

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Two-fifths of infantry graduate officer cadets now come from section of Israeli society aligned with far-right parties and settler movement

Israel’s army, for much of its seven decades the country’s pre-eminent secular institution, is increasingly coming under the sway of a national religious movement that has made bold moves across Israeli society in recent years.

About 40% of those graduating from the army’s infantry officer schools now come from a national religious community that accounts for 12 to 14% of Jewish Israeli society and is politically more aligned with Israel’s right and far-right political parties and the settler movement. Critics charge that its growing influence – including from the more orthodox portion known as Hardalim – is pursuing its own agenda within the army.

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‘Abhorrent antisemitism’: homes of Jewish Brooklyn Museum leaders vandalized

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Police look into red paint splattered with possible symbol of Palestinian resistance and banner calling director a Zionist

Police are investigating reports of vandalism after the homes of Jewish leaders and board members, including the director, of the Brooklyn Museum were splattered with red paint early Wednesday.

In images circulating on social media, red paint is visibly splashed across the homes of director Anne Pasternak and several others affiliated with the Brooklyn Museum. Police said five homes – three in Manhattan and two in Brooklyn – were vandalized in the attack.

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Sunak backs police action as Jewish students condemn ‘toxic’ protests

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PM backs action in case of disorder on campuses after claims that pro-Palestinian protests create hostile atmosphere

The prime minister has backed a police crackdown on any outbreak of disorder on university campuses after Jewish students said pro-Palestinian encampments were creating a “hostile and toxic atmosphere”.

In recent days, new encampments have been set up at the universities of Manchester, Sheffield, Bristol and Newcastle, among others, after violent scenes on US campuses resulted in mass arrests of students and staff.

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Met apologises for calling antisemitism campaigner ‘openly Jewish’

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Police officer had stopped Gideon Falter from walking near pro-Palestinian march while wearing kippah skull cap

The Metropolitan police has apologised after an officer used the term “openly Jewish” to an antisemitism campaigner who was threatened with arrest near a pro-Palestine march.

Gideon Falter, chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, was wearing a kippah skull cap when he was stopped from crossing the road near the demonstration in the Aldwych area of London last Saturday afternoon.

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Argentina court blames Iran for deadly 1994 bombing of Jewish center

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The attack, blamed on a suicide bomber, killed 85 people, wounded 300 and devastated Latin America’s biggest Jewish community

A new ruling by Argentina’s highest criminal court has blamed Iran for the fatal 1994 attack against a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, declaring it a “crime against humanity” in a decision that paves the way for victims to seek justice.

That huge blast at the Argentinian Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA), was blamed on a suicide bomber driving a stolen van loaded with explosives. It killed 85 people, wounded 300 and devastated Latin America’s biggest Jewish community.

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Amsterdam to mark role of tram system in transportation of Jews to death camps

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Documentary on deportation of 48,000 Jewish Amsterdammers during Holocaust prompts city to act

On 8 August 1944, an Amsterdam tram took Anne Frank from Weteringschans prison, past the “secret annexe” where she had hidden from the Nazis, on the start of a journey to her death.

It was one of a series of Dutch night trams that deported 48,000 Jewish Amsterdammers during the Holocaust, trams commissioned by the Nazis and paid for with the Jewish wealth they stole.

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Plan to end ultra-Orthodox students’ military exemption sparks row in Israel

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For years Haredi men have been allowed to continue Torah study, but proposal could force some to enlist

A proposed bill to extend compulsory military service to ultra-Orthodox students, historically exempt from conscription, has ignited a fierce debate in Israel, with Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly warning that failure to pass the law could jeopardise the stability of the government.

Israel has mandatory army service but for decades made an exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews, also known as Haredi, who are allowed to continue full-time Torah study. The proposal, as Israel approaches six months since the 7 October Hamas attacks that began the war in Gaza, seeks to extend the duration of military service for conscripts and raise the age for reservists, while also urging an end to the customary exemptions granted to yeshiva students.

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US delegation leaves Saudi Arabia early over kippah row

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United States Commission on International Religious Freedom cuts visit short after rabbi told to remove Jewish head covering

A US delegation on religious freedom said on Monday it cut short its visit to Saudi Arabia after one of its members was asked to remove his Jewish head covering, or kippah.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said its delegation was near Riyadh visiting Diriyah, a historic town and Unesco world heritage site, when the commission’s chair, the Orthodox rabbi Abraham Cooper, “refused their requests that he remove his religious head covering”.

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‘I’m Jewish and feel totally safe marching for Gaza’: London protesters defy Sunak’s ‘extremist’ slur

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Marchers on Saturday came from wide range of backgrounds as rightwing press characterises city as ‘no-go zone for Jews’

As on previous Saturdays in the past six months, there were two marches taking place in London yesterday. The first, a gathering of tens of thousands of full-throated, flag-waving supporters of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza gathered at Hyde Park Corner at noon, and shuffled peaceably and patiently in the sunshine in the direction of the American embassy at Vauxhall, over the river.

The second march was taking place mostly in the imaginations of right-wing commentators and politicians who increasingly choose to see these displays of solidarity with the Palestinian cause only as a provocation and a threat. Following the prime minister’s Downing Street address on 1 March which represented these gatherings as representative of “forces trying to tear apart” our democracy, the latest figure to loud-hailer that version of reality was the government-appointed commissioner for countering extremism, Robin Simcox, who argued on Friday the marches were “a permissive environment for radicalisation”, leading to a hysterical Daily Telegraph front-page headline that read: “London is now a no-go zone for Jews”.

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Breslau 1941: clandestine photos tell of the Holocaust’s upheaval and terror

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Images taken secretly some 80 years ago are being published for the first time to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day

A remarkable series of photographs of Jewish families being forced to leave their homes in Germany in the middle of the second world war has been published for the first time, following a chance discovery.

The images are a striking new testament to the sudden upheaval and terror of the Holocaust and were taken secretly by an amateur photographer. He is believed to have wanted to pass down the scenes he was witnessing, despite the risk to himself. They show groups of people gathering outside a restaurant near the railway station in the Silesian city of Breslau, now Wrocław in Poland. Jewish men, women and children of all ages were held here for a few days before deportation by train. Almost all are certain to have been killed just a few days later in a documented shooting in Lithuania. Others were killed at a later date in Poland.

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‘It can explode at any second’: fear at the Israeli market town split between two communities

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War has led to a crisis in relations in Lod – the town that both Arab and Jewish residents call home

From a distance the market looks like a scene of communal harmony. Jewish and Arab Israelis inspect the piles of pomegranates, oranges, pears and carrots. Israeli flags flap in the winter breeze from the balconies of shabby apartment blocks. A hundred metres away, a synagogue, mosque and Greek Orthodox church share a car park.

The reality is very different. The tension in Lod, a town of 80,000 in the centre of Israel, is palpable. Other than at prayer time, the mosque bolts its metal gates shut. So too do the synagogue and the church. Everybody in the town, which is home to both Jewish and Arab Israelis, is very aware of what might happen if the growing anger, fear and grief among both communities prompted by events of the last four months get out of hand.

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‘War hurts our hearts’: silent multi-faith peace walk held in London

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Hundreds follow route to Parliament Square in solidarity with people affected by Israel-Gaza conflict

Without flags, placards or chants, hundreds of people joined a silent multi-faith peace walk in London on Sunday in response to the Israel-Gaza war.

Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists walked side-by-side from Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square and back in solidarity with people affected by the conflict in the Middle East.

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