September 30, 2022
By SIMONE SOMEKH
(JTA) — The success of Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party in Italy’s national election last week means the country is poised to have its most right-wing government since World War II, when Italy was Hitler’s staunchest ally in Europe.
The prospect has unnerved many Italian Jews, even as several of their leaders appear to be taking a wait-and-see approach to Meloni’s leadership, refraining from making public...
September 29, 2022
By RON KAMPEAS
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Democrats on the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee voted to name as chairman of its influential Middle East subcommittee Rep. David Cicilline, a Jewish Rhode Islander who is a member of the party’s Progressive Caucus.
Cicilline bested Brad Schneider, a moderate Jewish Illinois Democrat, in an 18-6 vote.
Cicilline and Schneider are both close to the mainstream pro-Israel community and are both...
September 29, 2022
By RON KAMPEAS
WASHINGTON (JTA) — At the White House’s “United We Stand” summit against extremism, there was almost as much talk of hugs as there was of hate.
But the day-long event on Sept. 15 also was an example of some of the obstacles Jews face in joining with other groups to fight extremism.
The day overwhelmingly focused on right-wing extremism, with only scant allusion to the attacks Jews...
September 28, 2022
By RON KAMPEAS
(JTA) — Israeli troops killed four Palestinians and wounded at least 44 Wednesday in Jenin, the West Bank town that was the locus of a wave of terrorist attacks earlier this year and has been the target of sustained military raids since.
Fatah, the ruling party in the Palestinian Authority, declared a “day of rage” in the wake of the raid on Wednesday, Haaretz reported.
The Israeli...
September 28, 2022
By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
(JTA) — A Dutch committee charged with assessing and acting on claims about artwork stolen from Jews before and during the Holocaust has determined that a painting by Wassily Kandinsky should be returned to the family of the Jewish woman who likely owned it prior to the Holocaust.
The family of Johanna Margarethe Stern-Lippmann, who was murdered in 1944 at Auschwitz, should regain possession of “Blick auf...
September 25, 2022
(JNS.org) – Israeli forces ambushed armed terror suspects near Har Bracha on the West Bank overnight Saturday, killing one, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The ambush was set adjacent to a location from which terrorists had fired on the Jewish community in recent days, Kan News reported. The casualty, who had been riding a motorcycle, was later identified as Sa’ad al-Cuni, a member of the Lions’ Den terror...
September 23, 2022
By LARRY LUXNER
(JTA) — When Rosh Hashanah begins on Sunday night, Temple Beth Shalom in San Juan, Puerto Rico, plans to be holding services — whether or not power has been restored after Hurricane Fiona devastated the island Sept. 18, leaving devastation in its wake.
“Thank God the temple has solar panels,” said Salatiel Corcos, the synagogue’s past-president. “They’re not in very good shape because they were damaged, but we will...
September 23, 2022
By ANDREW LAPIN
(JTA) – A Navy contractor and ex-Army reservist who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol and has a history of making antisemitic and white supremacist statements was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison.
Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, who sported a “Hitler mustache” and was known to joke about killing and eating Jews, was captured on video breaching the Capitol and leading others...
September 23, 2022
(JNS) – Three Israelis were mildly injured in a stabbing terror attack near the central Israeli city of Modi’in on Thursday night.
According to media reports, the attacker was a 22-year-old Palestinian from Ramallah who opened car doors and attempted to stab people with a knife. At least one person was stabbed before one of the passengers sprayed the attacker with pepper spray that they had on hand.
The attacker...
September 22, 2022
By RON KAMPEAS
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The lawmakers thanked the representatives from the social networks giants for attending the Capitol Hill hearing on antisemitism — after all, it was not an official congressional hearing and no one was obliged to turn up.
But then, after some tense exchanges last Friday, things got acrimonious quickly: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Jewish Florida Democrat who convened the hearing, said that the tech...
