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These New York City buildings will be lit up in yellow in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day
(New York Jewish Week) — New York City municipal buildings will be illuminated in yellow on Saturday in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Six buildings in all five boroughs will be lit up to mark the day: City Hall in Manhattan, Bronx Borough Hall, Brooklyn Borough Hall, the David N. Dinkins Manhattan Municipal Building, Queens Borough Hall and Staten Island Borough Hall.
“As mayor of the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel, today I am haunted by the thought of how much larger our incredible Jewish family would be if it weren’t for the atrocities of the Holocaust,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a press release.
The mayor’s office is lighting City Hall and other government buildings in partnership with World Jewish Congress’ “#WeRemember” social media campaign, which is “dedicated to keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive” and “to remind the world of what can happen when hatred is allowed to thrive unchecked.”
“This meaningful gesture is a beacon of hope and a powerful reminder of the lessons we must carry forward,” Ronald Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress, said in a press release about Adams’ effort. “We are grateful to the leaders of the City of New York for their continued dedication to remembering the past and educating future generations, reinforcing our collective resolve to combat antisemitism and all forms of hatred.”
International Holocaust Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on Jan. 27, 1945. The day was designated by a United Nations General Assembly resolution in 2005. In the last two decades, its mission to spread Holocaust awareness and stop anti-semitism has grown significantly in scope.
While the day is marked by the global community and draws attention from many non-Jewish audiences, Jewish communities mark the Holocaust on Yom HaShoah, which typically falls in late April.
In addition to the municipal buildings, the Empire State Building will also be lit yellow to mark the day in partnership with Voices for Truth and Humanity, a nonprofit organization that promotes Holocaust education in public schools throughout the country.
In previous years, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office has illuminated various landmarks across the state yellow in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, including local One World Trade Center, Moynihan Train Hall and the Kosciuszko Bridge. Messages left for her office about their plans for this year were not answered as of press time.
Mayor Adams acknowledged the gravity of the moment for the Jewish community since the attacks on Oct. 7, which saw the most Jews murdered in one day since the Holocaust.
“October 7, 2023, was a reminder that hate is not a part of a distant past we remember but an ugly reality we must confront,” Adams said in a press release. “Our Jewish brothers and sisters should take comfort in knowing New York City will ‘Never Forget’ and will always be a haven for the Jewish people. May this light be a small symbol of our solidarity and send beams of hope for the future throughout our city.”
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The post These New York City buildings will be lit up in yellow in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters
Marco Rubio speaks after he is sworn in as Secretary of State by US Vice President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) filed a lawsuit challenging as unconstitutional the Trump administration’s actions to deport international students and scholars who protest or express support for Palestinian rights.
The lawsuit, filed on Saturday in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York, seeks a nationwide temporary restraining order to block enforcement of two executive orders signed by US President Donald Trump in the first month of his term.
The lawsuit comes after the detention of a Columbia University student, Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old permanent US resident of Palestinian descent, whose arrest sparked protests this month.
Justice Department lawyers have argued that the US government is seeking Khalil’s removal because Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reasonable grounds to believe his activities or presence in the country could have “serious adverse foreign policy consequences.” Rubio on Friday said the United States will likely revoke visas of more students in the coming days.
Trump vowed to deport activists who took part in protests on US college campuses against Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza following the October 2023 attack by the Palestinian terrorists.
The ADC lawsuit was filed on behalf of two graduate students and a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who say their activism and support of the Palestinian people “has put them at serious risk of political persecution.”
“This lawsuit is a necessary step to preserve our most fundamental constitutional protections. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech and expression to all persons within the United States, without exception,” said Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the ADC.
Chris Godshall-Bennett, the group’s legal director, said the litigation seeks immediate and long-term relief “to protect international students from any unconstitutional overreach that stifles free expression and deters them from fully engaging in academic and public discourse.”
The lawsuit centers on three Cornell University plaintiffs: a British-Gambian national and PhD student with a student visa; a US citizen PhD student working on plant science; and a US citizen novelist, poet, and professor in the Department of Literatures in English.
The post Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week
Israel’s Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar speaks at Reichman University in Herzliya on Sunday, September 11, 2022. Photo: Screenshot
i24 News – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet security agency, that he will bring a vote before his government to dismiss him next week.
The post Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes
Newly recruited fighters who joined a Houthi military force intended to be sent to fight in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, march during a parade in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
i24 News – The Houthis claimed on Sunday that they targeted the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and other vessels in the northern Red Sea with 18 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone. Military spokesperson Yahya Saree said that the US-led attacks against the Houthis on Saturday comprised of more than 47 airstrikes on seven governorates, with the death toll expected to rise.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to target all American warships in the Red Sea and in the Arabian Sea in retaliation to the aggression against our country,” Saree said, vowing the Houthis “will continue to impose a naval blockade on the Israeli enemy and ban its ships in the declared zone of operations until aid and basic needs are delivered to the Gaza Strip.”
The post Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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