World News
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Iran claims synagogue in Tehran was ‘completely destroyed’ by US-Israeli strike
(JTA) — Iranian state media claimed on Tuesday that a synagogue in Tehran was “completely destroyed” by a U.S.-Israeli strike. The claim was impossible to verify. Footage of the alleged attack on the Rafi-Niya Synagogue posted online showed open Hebrew prayer books scattered among the rubble of a building. The synagogue was damaged when a…
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Attacker killed in gunfight outside closed Israeli consulate in Istanbul
(JTA) — One attacker was killed and two others injured in a gunfight with police outside the Israeli consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday morning. The consulate has been largely closed since 2023, when the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza escalated diplomatic tensions between Turkey and Israel. Turkish authorities said…
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Mahmoud Khalil wants to reassure you
Mahmoud Khalil knows what you’ve heard about him. That he is an antisemite. That he supports Hamas. That he fostered “a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States,” as Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a letter seeking to deport Khalil on national security grounds. It’s not just that these claims offend…
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Frankfurt cinema declines to participate in Jewish film festival, spurring backlash
(JTA) — A Frankfurt cinema’s decision not to participate in the local Jewish film festival is spurring allegations of antisemitism, even as its manager says the move was financial. The Jewish Community of Frankfurt announced last week that the Astor Film Lounge did not wish to host movies during Jewish Film Days this year. The…
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Israeli, Serbian leaders denounce antisemitic statements at Belgrade protest
(JTA) — Israeli and Serbian officials are denouncing antisemitic comments made by demonstrators during a clash between Serbian students and police at a protest last week. “Death to Vučić and all the Jews around him,” one protester said in a televised interview, referring to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. “Long live Serbia.” The protest last Tuesday…
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Palestinian-French lawmaker arrested after praising 1972 bomber of Ben Gurion Airport
(JTA) — French police detained Rima Hassan, a member of the European Parliament from France, on suspicion of “advocating for terrorism” after she quoted one of the perpetrators of a 1972 terror attack on an Israeli airport in a social media post. Hassan, 33, was detained for several hours on Thursday by French authorities over…
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Michigan Democrats, Jewish leaders uneasy over Senate candidate’s alliance with Hasan Piker
(JTA) — Just weeks after an attack on a Michigan synagogue, a U.S. Senate candidate’s decision to campaign in the state with Hasan Piker — a streamer accused of antisemitic rhetoric — is prompting unease among Jewish leaders and fellow Democrats. Abdul El-Sayed, a physician and former county health executive, is set to appear with…
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Israel antiwar protests spur intensifying government crackdown
TEL AVIV, Israel — It was a strange sight, even for wartime Israel: A line of police horses descended into the vast public bomb shelter beneath Tel Aviv’s Habima Square — hooves clattering against the concrete as officers led them to safety. While the horses got a police escort, just a few feet away, 17 antiwar…
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This Christian conversion comedy should have left Jews out of it
It’s a classic Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner set-up: A family’s first meeting with their daughter’s beau turns sour when they learn he’s not who they imagined. In Premarital, a new movie starring Jim O’Heir of Parks and Recreation, Sophie (Kelley Jakle), a pastor’s daughter, returns from New York City to her anonymous midwestern town…
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Jewish families and a rabbi ask to join lawsuit to block Oklahoma Jewish charter school
(JTA) — A rabbi, a Jewish mother who invokes her family’s Holocaust history, and a Jewish teenager are among seven Oklahoma residents who have asked a federal court to let them join the fight against a proposed Jewish public charter school in their state. The group filed a motion Wednesday in federal court in Oklahoma…
