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In viral clip, French TV host asks Jewish guest why he wears a kippah in public
(JTA) — An Israeli professor was asked by the host of a French TV news show why he publicly identifies his religion by wearing a kippah in a clip that went viral on Wednesday.
“Many people are asking, why a professor wears a religious symbol in our studio,” the host of CNews pressed Dr. Cyrille Cohen, head of immunology at Bar Ilan University, who was invited to discuss vaccine effectiveness against the COVID-19 virus.
“For transparency, I wear it everyday, I did not put it on especially for this show,” he responded with an air of confusion.
“קוראים לי כהן, אני מישראל, אני עם כיפה”
הבנתי שהקטע הזה וויראלי למדיי בצרפת, הנה תרגום לעברית: פרופ’ סיריל כהן הישראלי בא להתראיין בערוץ צרפתי כרופא, ונשאל מה פתאום הגיע לאולפן עם כיפה… pic.twitter.com/6v0YM7ZnS5
— סיון רהב מאיר Sivan Rahav Meir (@SivanRahav) December 7, 2022
But French-Jewish journalist Elisabeth Levy, who was also a guest on the panel, pushed further.
“You understand, don’t you, that our non-religious way of life is discrete. It’s not against religion, but you should keep your religion to yourself,” she said.
“My name is Cohen! Why would you want me to ‘keep my religion to myself’? I’m coming from Israel,” Cohen responded in exasperation.
A clip of the video drew quick condemnation on Twitter. “Is this 1930s Europe?” tweeted Israeli journalist Emily Schrader.
Though brief, the exchange illustrated the starkly different perspectives on religious expression in France, the United States and elsewhere in the western world. “Laicite,” or secularism, rather than religious freedom, is enshrined in the first article of the French constitution, which also protects the free exercise of religion. The term has long been understood to imply a strict separation between the private sphere, where religion is accepted, and the public, where it is discouraged.
Religious minorities have complained that French secularism is often gentler with displays of Christianity, than other faiths.
“If a priest came in here would you ask him to take off his cross, if the pope, would you have him take off his cross and head covering?” Cohen said in the exchange.
Since 2004, French public schools have banned all personal displays of religion, including both crosses and yarmulkes. In 2009, debate erupted after a woman was banned from swimming in a public pool while wearing a bathing suit in line with some Islamic interpretations of modesty laws. In 2016, the swimsuit nicknamed a “burkini” was banned by the mayor of Cannes, a beach town.
French Jews also came up against the government’s strict adherence to laicite when a hearing in the trial of suspects involved in the 2015 shooting at a Paris Kosher supermarket, which killed four Jews, was scheduled on Yom Kippur. The French judiciary refused to change the date after requests by the families of the victims, citing laicite.
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The post In viral clip, French TV host asks Jewish guest why he wears a kippah in public appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iran to Boycott World Cup Draw Over Visa Restrictions
Soccer Football – World Cup Playoff Tournament and European Playoff draws – FIFA Headquarters, Zurich, Switzerland- November 20, 2025 The original FIFA World Cup trophy is kept on display during the draws. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
Iran intends to boycott next week’s World Cup draw due to the limited number of visas allocated to the country’s football federation.
According to the Tehran Times, the United States issued visas to only four members of Iran‘s delegation, with requests for three additional visas denied, including one for Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) President Mehdi Taj.
“We have informed FIFA that the decisions taken are unrelated to sport and that the members of the Iranian delegation will not participate in the World Cup draw,” FFIRI spokesman Mehdi Alavi said on Friday, per the report.
Alavi said the federation has been in contact with FIFA in an effort to resolve the situation.
The World Cup draw will take place on Dec. 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
The expanded 48-team World Cup is being hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, 2026. Matches will be played at 16 venues, including three in Mexico and two in Canada.
The draw will sort the teams into 12 groups of four. The top two teams from each group and the eight best third-place teams will advance to the knockout stage.
Iran has secured a spot in its fourth consecutive World Cup and seventh appearance overall.
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Dublin to Rename Chaim Herzog Park in a Move Slammed as Attempt to Erase Jewish History
Anti-Israel demonstrators stand outside the Israeli embassy after Ireland has announced it will recognize a Palestinian state, in Dublin, Ireland, May 22, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Molly Darlington
i24 News – Citing the Gaza war, Dublin city council voted to rename a park honoring Israel’s sixth president, the Irish-born Chaim Herzog, in further manifestation of anti-Israel sentiment in the country.
While a new name is yet to be chosen, reports cite efforts by pro-Palestinian activists to change it to the “Free Palestine Park.”
Former Irish justice minister Alan Shatter harshly criticized the vote, charging that “Dublin City Council has now gone full on Nazi & a committee of the Council has determined it should erase Jewish/Irish history. Herzog Park in Rathgar is named after Chaim Herzog, Israel’s 6th President, brought up in Dublin by his father, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, a friend of Eamon De Valera, who was Chief Rabbi of Ireland & Israel’s first Chief Rabbi… Some councillors want the Park renamed ‘Free Palestine Park.”
The Jewish Representative Council of Ireland issued a statement regarding the renaming of Herzog Park.
“It sends a hurtful and isolating message to a small minority community that has contributed to Ireland for centuries. We call on Dublin City Councillors to reject this motion. The removal of the Herzog name from this park would be widely understood as an attempt to erase our Irish Jewish history.”
A virtuoso diplomat and an intellectual giant, Herzog had served in a variety of roles throughout his storied career, including a memorable stint as the ambassador to the United Nations, where in 1975 he delivered a speech condemning the Soviet-engineered resolution to brand Zionism as a form of racism. The address is now regarded as a classic, along with the oration from the same session by the US Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar slammed the decision, saying that Ireland’s “antisemitic and anti-Israel obsession is sickening.”
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Qatar’s Al Thani to Visit Beirut Wednesday to Meet with Lebanon’s Leaders
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani makes statements to the media with then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Doha, Qatar, Oct. 13, 2023. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani will visit Beirut on Wednesday to meet with Lebanon’s leaders, Al-Jadeed reported Saturday.
The visit comes “as part of an effort inseparable from the efforts by Egypt in coordination with Arab countries, foremost among them Saudi Arabia.”
The trip coincides with a sensitive period for the country, ravaged by war and deep economic crisis.
Lebanon is under growing pressure from both Israel and the United States to more swiftly disarm Hezbollah and other Islamist groups across the country, with Israel increasingly inclined to stop the Shiite militia from rearming and rebuilding its infrastructure.
Hezbollah was left devastated in the aftermath of a nine-day war last year, that saw Israel take out its command structure and lay waste to a significant proportion of its missile arsenal.