World News
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Largest-ever British House of Lords delegation visits Israel to talk trade
LONDON (JTA) — The largest ever official delegation from the British House of Lords is visiting Israel on a four-day fact finding mission, in a reflection of increasingly close relations between Jerusalem and London. The cross-party group of 20 peers, which includes former Conservative Party leader Michael Howard and longtime Labour parliament member Leslie Turnberg,…
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Israeli minister cancels LA speech due to protests and ‘bad vibes’
(JTA) — An Israeli government minister canceled a speech in Los Angeles in the face of a protest, in part over what the local Israeli consul described as “bad vibes.” Ofir Akunis, Israel’s science and technology minister and a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, was due to speak on Tuesday at an…
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NYC’s Celebrate Israel Parade set to draw big crowds — and protests — amid Israel’s political turmoil
(New York Jewish Week) — For the first time in a dozen years, Ameinu, the former Labor Zionist Alliance, will be marching in the Celebrate Israel Parade, the annual gathering that draws tens of thousands of marchers and spectators along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. “It was becoming harder to identify with the overall vibe of the…
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More than a third of people in Hungary and Poland have ‘extensive’ antisemitic beliefs, ADL survey says
(JTA) — A survey by the Anti-Defamation League found that significant portions of people in 10 European countries believe a range of antisemitic stereotypes, including more than one in three people in Poland and Hungary. The ADL measures antisemitic attitudes across a range of countries by asking respondents if they believe a set of 11…
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CUNY chancellor denounces anti-Israel law school graduation speech as ‘hate speech’
(New York Jewish Week) — The chancellor and board of trustees of the City University of New York have denounced a May 12 graduation speech at CUNY School of Law in which a student harshly criticized Israel. Fatima Mousa Mohammed’s speech, in which she praised the law school as, in her view, a rare place where…
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A ‘gender-sensitive’ translation of the Hebrew Bible has hit digital shelves. Not everyone is happy.
(JTA) — A new Biblical translation that eschews gendered pronouns for God is now available through Sefaria, the online library of Jewish texts, prompting backlash on social media from some who see the change as a sacrilege. The Revised Jewish Publication Society edition of the Bible, which the 135-year-old Jewish publishing house has released in…
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911 dispatcher and rabbi take the stand on first day of Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial
PITTSBURGH (JTA) — When Shannon Basa-Sabol was asked to recount the events of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in court on Tuesday, what stood out was her memory of the death of Bernice Simon. Basa-Sabol, a 911 dispatcher, took the stand for close to an hour, describing the ins and outs of her job. But when…
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Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, revered haredi leader in Israel, dies at 100
(JTA) — Hundreds of thousands of mourners crowded into Bnei Brak Tuesday for the funeral of Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, head of the Lithuanian Ponevezh Yeshiva and one of the most influential religious leaders in Israel. In addition to running the yeshiva, one of the most prestigious in the haredi Orthodox world, for more than two…
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Holocaust drama ‘The Zone of Interest’ wins runner-up prize at Cannes Film Festival
(JTA) — “The Zone of Interest,” a sobering drama about a Nazi commander’s behavior during the Holocaust, won the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, as one of several new arthouse films about the legacy of antisemitism that premiered at the festival. Based on a novel by Martin Amis, the film…
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With her ‘Totally Kosher’ cookbook, Chanie Apfelbaum aims for a wider audience
(New York Jewish Week) — Chanie Apfelbaum’s newest cookbook, “Totally Kosher,” is filled with many inventive, flavor-packed recipes, like “Miso Matzo Ball Soup,” “Berbere Brisket” and “Pad Chai,” a shrimp-free version of the Thai staple. But while the book is designed for kosher-keeping observant Jews like herself, Apfelbaum — who boasts 101,000 followers on Instagram and…
