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The rise of anti-Jewish actions in Germany is profoundly worrying, but Angela Merkel’s fightback sets an example of moral seriousness and rigour
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has spoken openly about the spectre of antisemitism in Germany. She told CNN that “We have always had a certain amount of antisemites among us ... Unfortunately there is to this day not a single synagogue, not a single day care centre for Jewish children, not a single school for Jewish children that does not need to be guarded by German policemen.” Her remarks came a week after the country’s ombudsman for antisemitism, Felix Klein, suggested that observant Jews would be wise not to wear kippahs (skullcaps) in public. Taken together, these developments might suggest that Germany is sliding back into its dreadful past. In fact, they are signs of a determination that this must not happen. The crime figures do not suggest there is a crisis under way – though crime statistics do not measure fear.
The Jews of Germany are alarmed. It is not just the success of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in recent elections that contributes to their feeling of unease. A short-lived campaign to ban circumcision in 2012 was the first alarm bell; large demonstrations against the Gaza war in 2014, in which hostility to Israel often seemed indistinguishable from antisemitism, was another. And they are aware of the rising currents of antisemitism around Europe, even if it takes different forms in different countries.
Israeli PM needs support of religious and nationalist parties to form government
Benjamin Netanyahu has played a last-minute gambit to persuade politicians to help him form a government, threatening to call fresh Israeli elections if deadlocked negotiations do not succeed.
The prime minister and his rightwing and religious allies won a general election just last month, but the leader is required to announce a new coalition by Wednesday, a deadline mandated by law. If he fails, the Israeli president may assign another legislator to attempt the task.
Government commissioner says lifting of inhibitions and rise of uncouthness are factors behind rising incidence of antisemitism
Germany’s government commissioner on antisemitism has warned Jews about the potential dangers of wearing the traditional kippah cap in the face of rising anti-Jewish attacks.
“I cannot advise Jews to wear the kippah everywhere all the time in Germany,” Felix Klein said in an interview published Saturday by the Funke regional press group.
Memorial should be built at site of tourist attraction erected over Jewish cemetery, say campaigners
It has been called one of the world’s ugliest structures, pointing above Prague like a jabbing metallic finger while offering visitors panoramic views of the Czech capital’s more aesthetically pleasing sites.
Now the city’s looming 216-metre (709ft) television tower – one of the most distinctive architectural legacies of communism – is the subject of renewed complaints from the Prague Jewish community, which says it is a brooding reminder of the antisemitism of the regime that ruled the former Czechoslovakia for more than 40 years and whose dark history needs to be officially recognised.
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein says worshipper Lori Kaye died protecting him from a 19-year-old man who opened fire at the Chabad of Poway synagogue in San Diego. Goldstein lost one of his index fingers when he held up his hands in defence as the gunman fired. In an emotional statement, he recalled how Kaye threw herself between the gunman and him. Two others were wounded in the attack
The Guardian’s Oliver Holmes describes his quest for positive news in one of journalism’s most notoriously difficult beats
I had pretzels and a beer ready to pop. It was after 10pm and I was watching a live feed of mission control. An Israeli-built spacecraft was approaching the lunar surface and due to touch down within minutes. It was a straightforward good news story – the first privately funded attempt to land on the moon.
Flight engineers had their eyes glued to screens and I was listening to one talking through the details in Hebrew. Then, amid the technical jargon, I heard a jolting phrase in English: “Not OK”.
Orthodox Jewish children in fancy dress and adults take to the streets of Broughton in Greater Manchester to celebrate the annual feast of Purim, celebrated by Jewish communities around the world with parades and costume parties. Purim commemorates the defeat of Haman, the adviser to the Persian king, and his plot to massacre the Jewish people, 2,500 years ago, as recorded in the biblical book of Esther.
Next month’s poll is a referendum on a prime minister who has triumphed by fuelling divisions
Israel is not a state of all its citizens, Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu declared on Sunday. His words should be shocking, but in truth they made explicit the message of last year’s nation state law, rendering Palestinians in Israel second-class citizens. They would be shameful if he were capable of shame. Mr Netanyahu’s campaign for re-election in the face of a bribery and fraud indictment shows he is not. He has prospered by fostering division.
This latest act of cynical bigotry is simply par for the course. The same is true of Mr Netanyahu’s awful turn to far-right parties for support. Mr Netanyahu orchestrated the merger of the racist anti-Arab Jewish Power and the pro-settler Jewish Home parties to help them pass the electoral threshold and him put together a coalition. Jewish Power includes followers of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose Kach party was outlawed in Israel and is designated by the US and EU as a terror organisation.
Almost one-third in UK see rift, finds survey ahead of pope’s visit to Arabian peninsula
Large numbers of people in Christian-majority countries in the west see a fundamental clash between Islam and the values of their nation, according to a survey.
However, significantly fewer people in the Middle East and North Africa view Christianity in the same way.
Call for better education after scale of ignorance is revealed in survey to coincide with memorial day
One in 20 British adults do not believe the Holocaust happened, and 8% say that the scale of the genocide has been exaggerated, according to a poll marking Holocaust Memorial Day.
Almost half of those questioned said they did not know how many Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, and one in five grossly underestimated the number, saying that fewer than two million were killed. At least six million Jews died.
Hurricane Irma, a record Category 5 storm, is seen approaching Puerto Rico in this NASA's GOES-16 satellite image taken at about 15:15 EDT on September 6, 2017.. Lakeland - Rabbi David Goldstein stood Friday morning in the social hall of Temple Emanuel, in Lakeland, Florida describing the items used in services.
The Jewish new year celebration, Rosh Hashanah, began Sunday night, and for most observant adherents it is meant to kick off a period of often personal reflection. But one religious leader took the holiday as an opportunity to send a message to a man who he said was a former congregant: presidential adviser Stephen Miller.
"The fact that, as a woman of color, I am facing accusations that my deeply held identity is a false one says more about the politics of Jewish identity than it does about my observing Judaism." "There was nobody in our immediate family who was Jewish .
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American Jewish groups expressed mixed reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court 's decision on a controversial Colorado baker's refusal to serve a gay couple. In a 7-2 decision on the Masterpiece Cakeshop v.
In 1995, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which basically ordered the relocation of the US Embassy to Jerusalem on the pain of withholding funding. The only "out" was the president's ability to sign a six-month waiver, which has occurred over three dozen times since its passage.
Israel turns 70 years old Monday, and an "embassy" sign will be put on an American government building in West Jerusalem to celebrate the occasion. But that will not make Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
The Massachusetts Democrat is expected to discuss economic justice issues during her address to the Union For Reformed Judaism on Friday. The group says a record number of attendees from more than 500 congregations in the U.S., Canada and a dozen other countries are participating in the biennial gathering.
On Wednesday, October 4, the Department of Justice issued a memorandum stating that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not protect transgender employees in their places of work. In the memorandum, Attorney General Jeff Sessions wrote, "Title VII's prohibition on sex discrimination encompasses discrimination between men and women but does encompass discrimination based on gender identity per se , including transgender status."
Tami Luchow is a Diversity and Inclusion Speaker and Consultant and Founder of "Care for Life and Limb," which is Senator Lindsey Graham spoke at a Bar Mitzvah I attended on a recent Shabbos. After his welcoming remarks to the congregation, the rabbi asked the senator a few prepared questions about his position on Israel, Iran's nuclear capabilities, white supremacy, China, North Korea, and more.