Section: Jewish Telegraphic Agency (USA)
For Russia’s Jews, Nemtsov murder is reminder of their vulnerability
Some of the tens of thousands in Moscow protesting the murder of Boris Nemtsov, March 1, 2015. (Alexander Aksakov/Getty Images) (JTA) — During the past two years, Dima Zicer has skipped several political rallies opposing the chauvinistic policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin. A Jewish scholar of education from St. Petersburg, Zicer, 55,...
Kerry decries ‘unbalanced focus’ on Israel in UNHCR
(JTA) — There is an “unbalanced focus” on Israel by the United Nations Human Rights Council, John Kerry told its members “No one in this room can deny that there is an unbalanced focus on one democratic country,” Kerry said in an address to the council on Monday in Geneva. “It must be said the HRC’s obsession with Israel actually risks...
Nemtsov murder risks civil war, Russian dissident Khodorkovsky warns
(JTA) — Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky said the murder of former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov risked plunging Russia into civil war. An unidentified shooter on Saturday gunned down Nemtsov, who was a Christian but said he had Jewish ancestry. Khodorkovsky, a Russian Jew who left to Switzerland in 2013 after being sentenced to 11...
Raoul Wallenberg honored at Swedish embassy in Buenos Aires
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — In the 70th anniversary year of his disappearance in Russia, Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust, was honored at Sweden’s embassy in Buenos Aires. Wednesday’s tribute organized by Argentina’s Raoul Wallenberg Foundation and the Swedish embassy in...
In Lithuania, Yiddish teacher becomes unlikely bulwark against far right
Dovid Katz has become a target of scorn for speaking out against ultranationalist groups in Lithuania. (Cnaan Liphshiz) KAUNAS, Lithuania (JTA) — Dovid Katz isn’t typically a hard man to miss. With his bushy charcoal beard, heavy physique and trademark all-black outfits, Katz, a New York-born scholar of Yiddish, resembles a character from a...
Ukraine grave of Breslover founder’s daughter torched, vandalized
(JTA) — The grave of a daughter of the Breslover movement’s founder, Rabbi Nachman, was set on fire and daubed with a swastika. The 1831 grave in the central-Ukraine city of Kremenchuk was set ablaze sometime after the completion last month of its renovation by the Oholei Tzadikim association, which works to restore Jewish burial sites...
Ukrainian Jewish soldier killed in separatists fighting buried in Kiev
(JTA) — A Ukrainian Jewish soldier who died last month amid Russian-backed separatist fighting was buried in Kiev. Yevgeni Yatsina, who was almost 26, was brought to burial in the capital on Friday following the discovery of his body, which was covered by debris since he died in an explosion last month in the country’s east, the news...
France’s prime minister appeals to Jews to stay
(JTA) — Prime Minister Manuel Valls of France appealed to his country’s Jews to stay in the wake of a call by his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu for European Jews to move to Israel. “My message to French Jews is the following: France is wounded with you and France does not want you to leave,” Valls said Monday following a weekend...
Denmark chief rabbi rejects Netanyahu call to make aliyah
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Denmark’s chief rabbi rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for European Jews to move to Israel in the wake of a terror attack on a Copenhagen synagogue. “Terror is not a reason to move to Israel,” said Denmark Chief Rabbi Jair Melchior said Sunday. His remarks came in response to a statement...
Israel’s Cabinet approves $46 million immigration plan
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Cabinet approved a more than $46 million plan to encourage immigration and to adapt the absorption process to Jews from France, Belgium and Ukraine. The plan was approved Sunday, hours after a gunman killed a volunteer Jewish guard at a synagogue in Copenhagen. “We say to Jews, to our brothers and sisters: Israel...
