World News
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Tributes Pour in for Jewish Director Rob Reiner, Wife After Couple Found Dead, Son Arrested on Murder Charges
(From left) Rob Reiner, Michele Singer, Romy Reiner, Nick Reiner, Maria Gilfillan and Jake Reiner attend the Los Angeles Premiere of ”Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” at The Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, California, US, Sept. 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Aude Guerrucci Dozens of people in Hollywood have expressed profound sadness following the news that…
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What’s a gender-segregated Hasidic pilgrimage like?
Anthropologist Samuel Shuman and Yiddish linguist Chaya Nove recently conducted a unique sort of joint fieldwork: they attended the annual Hasidic pilgrimage to Hungary that brings thousands of people to the gravesite of Rabbi Yeshaya Steiner, a Hasidic rabbi known as Reb Shayele. A portrait of Rabbi Yeshaya Steiner of Kerestir, produced during his lifetime.…
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Hanukkah After Bondi Beach: We Must Not Retreat
Police officers stand guard following the attack on a Jewish holiday celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Flavio Brancaleone The attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach took place at a public Hanukkah celebration — an openly Jewish gathering marking a holiday meant to symbolize continuity, restraint, and survival. Candles were…
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Australia’s ‘Hanukkah Massacre’ Is Worse Than You Think
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during a press conference at the Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, June 17, 2024. Photo: Lukas Coch/Pool via REUTERS Chabad’s “Hanukkah by the Sea” event near Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, turned into a bloody massacre on Sunday: 15 murdered and dozens more injured, as of the latest update.…
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Are We at a Tipping Point? Will Larger Numbers of Jewish Americans Make Aliyah?
New immigrants arrive in Israel in 2019, many coming alone to serve in the nation’s military. Photo: courtesy of Nefesh B’Nefesh. In The Arc of a Covenant (2022), a comprehensive book about the history of the relationship between the US and Israel, Walter Russell Mead points out that, if not for the persecution and expulsion of Jews…
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Hamas Uses Sydney Terror Attack to Reaffirm Its Doctrine of Killing Jews Worldwide
A Palestinian man points a weapon in the air after it was announced that Israel and Hamas agreed on the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire, in the central Gaza Strip, October 9. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa Following Sunday’s terror attack in Sydney where Muslim terrorists murdered at least 15 people and wounded 29 others, Hamas’…
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Australian authorities confirm that Bondi Beach attackers were affiliated with Islamic State terror group
(JTA) — The father-and-son duo who killed 15 people during an attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney on Sunday were motivated by “Islamic State ideology,” Australian authorities have confirmed. Australian media had reported on Monday that the country’s intelligence service had previously investigated Naveed Akram, the son, over his ties to members of an…
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New footage emerges of Jewish man trying to disarm Bondi Beach shooters before massacre
(JTA) — An elderly Jewish man sought to stop the Bondi Beach Hanukkah attackers and was their first victim, according to dramatic dashcam footage that emerged on Tuesday. Boris Gurman, 69, came upon the attackers as they exited their car and confronted them, according to the footage, which first appeared on Chinese social media after…
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Why Sydney’s Hanukkah attack was not a surprise to hate researchers
At least 15 people – including a ten-year-old child – are dead after two men opened fire on a crowd of people celebrating the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah on Sunday in a public park at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Many more are injured. I am horrified. But as a researcher who studies hate and extremist violence,…
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JD Vance: ‘There’s a difference between not liking Israel’ and antisemitism
(JTA) — Under fire over antisemitism within the Republican Party, Vice President JD Vance said on Monday that “the single most significant thing you could do to eliminate anti-semitism” is reducing immigration to the United States. Vance also laid out his attitude about criticism of Israel, tweeting, “I would say there’s a difference between not…
