Uncategorized
TikTok star Montana Tucker follows Holocaust series by emceeing embassy event for Israel’s 75th anniversary
(JTA) — TikTok star Montana Tucker, who documented a family trip to Auschwitz last year for her millions of followers, will emcee the Israeli embassy in Washington’s event celebrating Israel’s 75th anniversary.
The 30-year-old actress and singer is best known for her short dance videos, which often include celebrities. She has over 9 million TikTok followers and close to 3 million Instagram followers.
Tucker’s selection as the emcee for the Israeli embassy event, to be Tuesday at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., comes as the star builds a reputation for Jewish content.
Last June, Tucker and her mother visited Auschwitz, the former Nazi death camp that is now a museum and memorial in Oswiecim, Poland. Tucker’s great-grandmother and other relatives were murdered there during the Holocaust.
Tucker narrated a series of short videos about the trip, which she titled “How To: Never Forget” and collected into a 23-minute video on YouTube in January, ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
A press release for the embassy event linked to the video series.
She has said that she was inspired in part to educate others about Holocaust history and antisemitism by Kanye West’s series of antisemitic rants last fall. She was also disturbed by a 2020 Claims Conference survey on millennial and Gen Z knowledge of the Holocaust that found that 63% of those demographics in the United States did not know 6 million Jews died during World War II.
In March, Tucker then posted a conversation she had with second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who had visited Auschwitz in January and who is also focused on efforts to combat antisemitism. She had attended the first White House Jewish Women’s Forum days earlier.
Tucker, who grew up in Boca Raton, Florida, and also releases pop music, was close with her grandparents who survived the war and recorded testimony for Steven Spielberg’s USC Shoah Foundation archive.
“My whole life, I always knew my grandparents’ stories,” Tucker told Variety in January. “I’ve always felt very, very attached to them. They used to speak at all the schools down in Florida. My zaide [grandfather in Yiddish]… would wear a pin that said, ‘I’m a survivor.’”
Tucker also has ties to Israel, where she had her bat mitzvah ceremony, as Jewish Insider reported. She said it’s a “big priority” to visit again soon.
—
The post TikTok star Montana Tucker follows Holocaust series by emceeing embassy event for Israel’s 75th anniversary appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
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.
Uncategorized
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.”
Uncategorized
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.