Section: Jewish Telegraphic Agency (USA)
Canada to review case of Nazi-era war-crimes suspect
(JTA) – The Canadian government will review the case of Nazi-era war-crimes suspect Helmut Oberlander, who has been fighting to retain his Canadian citizenship since 1995. Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal sent his case back the Canadian Cabinet for reconsideration after it filed its third motion since 2001 to revoke his citizenship, the...
Ukraine threatens Uman visa bans following Israeli minister’s Crimea visit
(JTA) — Following an Israeli minister’s meeting with the governor of an area which Russia annexed from Ukraine, Kiev threatened to tighten visa requirements for tourists from the Jewish state. Ukraine made this threat in a letter sent this week by its ambassador to Tel Aviv to Israel’s foreign ministry, the Segodnya Daily reported...
Russian non-Jews to begin conversion before immigrating to Israel
(JTA) — Russian non-Jews who are preparing to immigrate to Israel have been given the option of beginning their conversion to Judaism in Moscow. This option came with the launch last week in Russia of the Maslul project, which is a joint initiative of several organizations for facilitating the conversion process for prospective immigrants even...
Jews built this city on rock and roll (and klezmer)
Eduard Tumansky, third from left, with fellow Simcha musicians, Sept. 3, 2013. (Courtesy of Simcha) KAZAN, Russia (JTA) — When the six members of the Simcha klezmer band hauled their instruments into a dilapidated rehearsal space, no one suspected they were about to hijack a government building in this large, clean city some 450 miles east of...
Palestinian Authority envoy commemorates Holocaust in Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — The ambassador of the Palestinian Authority in Brazil joined several Jewish and non-Jewish officials to commemorate the Holocaust at a ceremony in Brazil’s capital. “I could not be absent. It is very important to remember this date,” PA envoy to Brazil Ibrahim Alzeben declared at the event in Brasilia in honor of...
Ukrainian-Jewish billionaire Igor Kolomoisky sues Russia
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Ukrainian-Jewish billionaire Igor Kolomoisky sued Russia in an international court over his inability to operate an airport in Crimea. The Permanent Court of Arbitration, a Hague-based intergovernmental organization with 117 member states, announced on Wednesday that it would review the lawsuit, Reuters reported. Kolomoisky, a...
Haredi couple from Israel caught with drugs in Ukraine
(JTA) — Ukrainian police arrested a haredi Orthodox couple from Israel at a Kiev airport after finding more than two pounds of marijuana in their luggage. The website of Ukraine’s border police did not identify the Israelis arrested at Boryspil Airport on Sunday but said they were apprehended in a combined operation by the country’s...
Christian-funded group begins bringing French Jews to Israel
(JTA) — An Israeli organization with major funding from Christian donors brought 17 French Jews to Israel in what its founder said was the “end of a monopoly” for the Jewish Agency for Israel. The newcomers brought to Israel by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, or IFCJ, arrived in Israel on Dec. 27. They constituted the first...
How a Jewish reporter celebrated Hanukkah at the Kremlin
JTA’s Cnaan Liphshiz, right, gets set to accept a Fiddler on the Roof Award from Rabbi Boruch Gorin at the Kremlin, Dec. 8, 2015. (Courtesy of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia) MOSCOW (JTA) — Like many tourists in Red Square, I have often wondered what lies beyond the tall walls that separate this Moscow attraction from the...
Senior Russian rabbi accuses Ukrainian president of ‘using Jewish card’
(JTA) — A senior Russian rabbi accused the president of Ukraine of glossing over his country’s Holocaust record and lying about Russia’s treatment of Jews. Rabbi Boruch Gorin, spokesman for Rabbi Berel Lazar, one of Russia’s chief rabbis, made the accusation in an Op-Ed published Friday on the news site Jewish.ru following...
