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A pop-up exhibit about Shanghai’s surprising Jewish history is on display in Lower Manhattan
(New York Jewish Week) — Visitors to a Lower Manhattan office building renamed to reflect a lucky number in Chinese tradition can, for the next few weeks, get a firsthand look at how China was once a fortunate destination for tens of thousands of Jews.
A temporary exhibit at 28 Liberty Street’s Fosun Plaza showcases the 20,000 Jews who took refuge in Shanghai between 1938 and 1941 to escape Nazi persecution. China was the only country with an open-door policy at the time, allowing Jews without an entry visa to settle there.
Family portraits of milestones and the mundane, candid shots of the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee handing out clothing, birth certificates, boat tickets, letters and more line colorful display walls at the exhibit, a pop-up satellite of the Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum.
Jerry Lindenstraus, 94, fled to Shanghai with his family following Kristallnacht, and settled in Hongkew, one of the poorer areas near the port. He credits the Chinese people for the existence of his large family.
“If it wasn’t for Shanghai I wouldn’t be here and neither would they,” Lindenstraus said during an event this week kicking off the exhibit, which will be in place until Aug. 14.
The Shanghai museum was founded in 2007 and completed a major expansion in 2020. The new exhibit, titled “Shanghai, Homeland Once Upon a Time – Jewish Refugees and Shanghai,” draws on its collections to pull together more than 200 photographs and 30 pieces of replica memorabilia to tell the story of the brief period when the Chinese coastal city was a significant Jewish population center.
The exhibit features six sections: “Fleeing to Shanghai,” “Starting a New Life,” “Bittersweet Memories,” “After the War” and “New Look of the Homeland.”
Each section highlights excerpts from different refugees and or their descendants giving insight into their lives and experiences. In “Starting a New Life,” the exhibit highlights work in a tailor shop, the types of food eaten, arts, sports, music and Jewish education.
“Bitter Sweet Memories” includes reflections from life in the Shanghai ghetto, where the Jewish immigrants were forced to move in 1943, after the Nazis pressured the Japanese military, which had occupied Shanghai since 1937, to act against the Jews. Conditions and treatment in the ghetto were poor; the refugees could not come and go freely and had to carry resident certificates that identified them as Jewish.
“I must point out that the Chinese around us never called us dirty Jews or made antisemitic remarks. They just accepted us without question,” Elizabeth Grebenschikoff read from a speech at the event kickoff that her mother Betty, who died in February at 93, had written about her time living in Shanghai as a girl.
“After the War” shows Jewish people moving from China, and their reflections on Shanghai later in life are represented in “A New Look of the Homeland.” The exhibit also features a replica of “The Wall of Names of Jewish Refugees in Shanghai” found in the museum.
The exhibit features six sections that highlight different points in Jewish refugees’ lives in Shanghai. (Photo by Leah Breakstone)
The exhibit is situated in a private plaza that is part of a building owned by a Chinese investment company. Known for half a century as One Chase Manhattan Plaza, the building was renamed 28 Liberty Street after Fosun, the investment company, purchased it. The name, company officials explained at the time, is meant to conjure a double portion of luck, as represented in Chinese culture by the number eight.
A foundation associated with Fosun contributed to the costs of mounting the new exhibit, along with the Shanghai Diamond Exchange. Huang Ping, the Chinese consul general in New York; Chen Jian, director of the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, and Jing Ying, vice president of Shanghai People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, gave speeches.
Other initiatives are underway or planned to “seek to keep alive the unique stories of the Jewish refugees,” according to a press release announcing the exhibit. They include the Chinese-Jewish Cultural Connection Center, a non-profit based in Shanghai that aims to connect remaining Jewish refugees and their descendents; a documentary; a collaboration between the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, and a musical titled “Shanghai Sonatas,” about the music that helped Jewish refugees survive the war.
The exhibit is free and open to the public daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. It closes Aug. 14.
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The post A pop-up exhibit about Shanghai’s surprising Jewish history is on display in Lower Manhattan appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire
Explosions send smoke into the air in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing said on Friday that while the Palestinian terrorist group favors reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, if such an agreement is not reached in current negotiations it could revert to insisting on a full package deal to end the conflict.
Hamas has previously offered to release all the hostages held in Gaza and conclude a permanent ceasefire agreement, and Israel has refused, Abu Ubaida added in a televised speech.
Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have hosted more than 10 days of talks on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day truce in the war.
Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on a call he had with Pope Leo on Friday that Israel‘s efforts to secure a hostage release deal and 60-day ceasefire “have so far not been reciprocated by Hamas.”
As part of the potential deal, 10 hostages held in Gaza would be returned along with the bodies of 18 others, spread out over 60 days. In exchange, Israel would release a number of detained Palestinians.
“If the enemy remains obstinate and evades this round as it has done every time before, we cannot guarantee a return to partial deals or the proposal of the 10 captives,” said Abu Ubaida.
Disputes remain over maps of Israeli army withdrawals, aid delivery mechanisms into Gaza, and guarantees that any eventual truce would lead to ending the war, said two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters on Friday.
The officials said the talks have not reached a breakthrough on the issues under discussion.
Hamas says any agreement must lead to ending the war, while Netanyahu says the war will only end once Hamas is disarmed and its leaders expelled from Gaza.
Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Over 250 hostages were kidnapped during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.
Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
The post Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel
People hold images of the victims of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas
Iran on Friday marked the 31st anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires by slamming Argentina for what it called “baseless” accusations over Tehran’s alleged role in the terrorist attack and accusing Israel of politicizing the atrocity to influence the investigation and judicial process.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the anniversary of Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.
“While completely rejecting the accusations against Iranian citizens, the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns attempts by certain Argentine factions to pressure the judiciary into issuing baseless charges and politically motivated rulings,” the statement read.
“Reaffirming that the charges against its citizens are unfounded, the Islamic Republic of Iran insists on restoring their reputation and calls for an end to this staged legal proceeding,” it continued.
Last month, a federal judge in Argentina ordered the trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of orchestrating the attack in Buenos Aires.
The ten suspects set to stand trial include former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats, all of whom are subject to international arrest warrants issued by Argentina for their alleged roles in the terrorist attack.
In its statement on Friday, Iran also accused Israel of influencing the investigation to advance a political campaign against the Islamist regime in Tehran, claiming the case has been used to serve Israeli interests and hinder efforts to uncover the truth.
“From the outset, elements and entities linked to the Zionist regime [Israel] exploited this suspicious explosion, pushing the investigation down a false and misleading path, among whose consequences was to disrupt the long‑standing relations between the people of Iran and Argentina,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
“Clear, undeniable evidence now shows the Zionist regime and its affiliates exerting influence on the Argentine judiciary to frame Iranian nationals,” the statement continued.
In April, lead prosecutor Sebastián Basso — who took over the case after the 2015 murder of his predecessor, Alberto Nisman — requested that federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issue national and international arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his alleged involvement in the attack.
Since 2006, Argentine authorities have sought the arrest of eight Iranians — including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died in 2017 — yet more than three decades after the deadly bombing, all suspects remain still at large.
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, released a statement commemorating the 31st anniversary of the bombing.
“It was a brutal attack on Argentina, its democracy, and its rule of law,” the group said. “At DAIA, we continue to demand truth and justice — because impunity is painful, and memory is a commitment to both the present and the future.”
31 años del atentado a la AMIA – DAIA. 31 años sin justicia.
El 18 de julio de 1994, un atentado terrorista dejó 85 personas muertas y más de 300 heridas. Fue un ataque brutal contra la Argentina, su democracia y su Estado de derecho.
Desde la DAIA, seguimos exigiendo verdad y… pic.twitter.com/kV2ReGNTIk
— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) July 18, 2025
Despite Argentina’s longstanding belief that Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah terrorist group carried out the devastating attack at Iran’s request, the 1994 bombing has never been claimed or officially solved.
Meanwhile, Tehran has consistently denied any involvement and refused to arrest or extradite any suspects.
To this day, the decades-long investigation into the terrorist attack has been plagued by allegations of witness tampering, evidence manipulation, cover-ups, and annulled trials.
In 2006, former prosecutor Nisman formally charged Iran for orchestrating the attack and Hezbollah for carrying it out.
Nine years later, he accused former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — currently under house arrest on corruption charges — of attempting to cover up the crime and block efforts to extradite the suspects behind the AMIA atrocity in return for Iranian oil.
Nisman was killed later that year, and to this day, both his case and murder remain unresolved and under ongoing investigation.
The alleged cover-up was reportedly formalized through the memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 between Kirchner’s government and Iranian authorities, with the stated goal of cooperating to investigate the AMIA bombing.
The post Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns
Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, attends an interview with Reuters in Amman, Jordan, Sept. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements, has been implicated in a wide-ranging network of illegal financial activities in Jordan and abroad, according to a new investigative report.
Investigations conducted by Jordanian authorities — along with evidence gathered from seized materials — revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood raised tens of millions of Jordanian dinars through various illegal activities, the Jordan news agency (Petra) reported this week.
With operations intensifying over the past eight years, the report showed that the group’s complex financial network was funded through various sources, including illegal donations, profits from investments in Jordan and abroad, and monthly fees paid by members inside and outside the country.
The report also indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken advantage of the war in Gaza to raise donations illegally.
Out of all donations meant for Gaza, the group provided no information on where the funds came from, how much was collected, or how they were distributed, and failed to work with any international or relief organizations to manage the transfers properly.
Rather, the investigations revealed that the Islamist network used illicit financial mechanisms to transfer funds abroad.
According to Jordanian authorities, the group gathered more than JD 30 million (around $42 million) over recent years.
With funds transferred to several Arab, regional, and foreign countries, part of the money was allegedly used to finance domestic political campaigns in 2024, as well as illegal activities and cells.
In April, Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most vocal opposition group, and confiscated its assets after members of the Islamist movement were found to be linked to a sabotage plot.
The movement’s political arm in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front, became the largest political grouping in parliament after elections last September, although most seats are still held by supporters of the government.
Opponents of the group, which is banned in most Arab countries, label it a terrorist organization. However, the movement claims it renounced violence decades ago and now promotes its Islamist agenda through peaceful means.
The post Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns first appeared on Algemeiner.com.