World News
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In Max and Richard Fleischer, was father like son?
Spare a thought for Mr. Boop’s bald spot — or is it a yarmulke? In Max Fleischer’s 1932 cartoon “Minnie the Moocher,” Betty Boop is shown at home, harangued by her heavily-accented immigrant parents. They want her to eat her hasenpfeffer. For a particular subset of cartoon neurotics, what exactly is going on with Betty’s…
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Man charged for two Toronto-area synagogue shootings
(JTA) — Police have arrested a man in connection with two Toronto-area synagogue shootings that occurred on the same night in March. Nobody was injured in either attack, though two maintenance workers were inside Beth Avraham Yoseph when it was struck with bullets on March 6 after Shabbat services. Toronto police did not share the…
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A Jewish Expressionist artist’s life, preserved in a brownstone
NEW YORK — Even inside a five-story brownstone crowded with paintings, sculptures and books, no single work can fully contain the spirit of Ukrainian-born artist Ben-Zion. Still, one painting comes close: a portrait of the healer and rabbi known as Baal Shem Tov, seated calmly beneath a tree. Rendered in ochre, gray and green, the…
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British Greens battle antisemitism scandal as Jewish leader Zack Polanski targets historic gains in local elections
(JTA) — Britons heading to polls in local elections on Thursday will deliver an answer to the question of whether their country’s legacy parties still hold wide appeal. They will also illuminate just how willing British voters are to overlook antisemitism accusations around a rising left-wing party party — and potentially propel its leader, a…
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Casey Putsch, candidate who asked Grok to praise Hitler, loses in Ohio GOP primary
(JTA) — Ohio gubernatorial candidate Casey Putsch, whose rhetoric has included antisemitic dogwhistles, did not come close to winning the Republican primary on Tuesday. But he was not swept aside by the electorate, either: Nearly 150,000 Ohio Republicans voted for him, making up 17.5% of voters. Vivek Ramaswamy, the former presidential candidate who had President…
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Words of rescue: Yermiyahu Ahron Taub’s new book of poetry
עס זײַנען דאָ פּאָעטן װאָס זײַנען נבֿיאים, ווי למשל משה קולבאַק און חיים־נחמן ביאַליק. פֿאַראַן פּאָעטן פֿילאָסאָפֿן, װי עמילי דיקינסאָן אָדער אַהרן צײטלין. און טײל פּאָעטן זײַנען קינסטלער פֿון אימזאַש, װי רחל פֿישמאַן. זעלטן װען אָבער זעט מען אַ פּאָעט, װאָס איז מסוגל דורך זײַנע לידער צו באַלעבן אָדער באַװױנען עטלעכע פּערזענלעכקײטן, פּאַרשױנען, און דערבײַ…
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Israel, US condemn Belgium over planned prosecutions tied to Jewish circumcisions
(JTA) — A diplomatic spat erupted on Wednesday after Belgian prosecutors moved to charge two Jewish men tied to ritual circumcisions, prompting Israeli and U.S. officials to accuse Belgium of targeting Jews for practicing their faith. Gideon Saar, Israel’s minister of foreign affairs, lit into the country in a post on X Wednesday morning, calling…
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Rutgers disinvites commencement speaker over tweet claiming Israelis ‘train dogs to sexually assault prisoners’
(JTA) — Administrators at Rutgers University have canceled a commencement speaker scheduled for next week, citing an “inflammatory claim” the speaker tweeted about Israel. Rami Elghandour, a Rutgers alumnus and a producer of an Oscar-nominated docudrama about a Palestinian girl who died in Gaza, was set to deliver the speech at the university’s School of…
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Brussels cathedral installs plaques apologizing for medieval antisemitic persecution depicted in stained glass
(JTA) — More than 650 years after Jews in Brussels were executed and expelled following false antisemitic accusations, church officials at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula have installed a plaque apologizing for the persecution commemorated in its stained glass windows. At a ceremony on April 27, Archbishop Luc Terlinden of Mechelen-Brussels and…
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Georgetown Law graduation speaker backs out after students protest his ‘controversial, Zionist and harmful opinions’
(JTA) — A pro-Israel Jewish economist and former university president will no longer speak at Georgetown University Law School’s graduation next week, after stepping down from the speaking engagement following student criticism. Instead, graduating students and their families will hear from a Georgetown professor who has disparaged legal efforts to curb pro-Palestinian student protests and…
