Browsing: Global

As the 68th Eurovision Song Contest kicks into full gear, organizers who insist the event is “non-political” are fighting a crescendo of protests over Israel’s participation amid the ongoing war in Gaza. The European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the global competition held in the Swedish city of Malmö this year, has tirelessly pushed one slogan: “United by Music.” But the group’s decision to keep Israel among 37 nations vying for a trophy has instead divided Malmö, triggered global petitions, caused artists to boycott and generated plans for a flood of street protests. Eurovision launched with its first semifinal on Tuesday.…

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said there were no known Israeli casualties. A mob of pro-Hamas demonstrators attempted to break into a hotel where Israeli tourists were staying in Athens, according to media reports and videos circulating on social media. The anti-Israel protests against the war in Gaza escalated into riots, with some demonstrators attempting to breach the hotel premises. Greek police were reportedly dispatched to the scene at Omonia Square, where they deployed gas grenades to disperse the crowd and restore order. Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said there were no known Israeli casualties, i24 News reported. The incident…

‘It is unacceptable that Jews face fear and unrest just trying to access public transportation.’ A bus driver in Manchester, England kicked an Israeli woman off of a bus after she commented on a pro-Palestinian symbol the driver was wearing on his uniform. Following the incident, the Manchester Jewish Council released a statement condemning the bus driver’s actions. “As the Jewish community exits its Passover, we are once again frightened by company employees contracted by Manchester City Council who are openly displaying political symbols relating to the current conflict in the Middle East.” They noted that Jewish passengers are facing…

Petro again described Israel’s siege of Gaza as “genocide.” He previously suspended purchases of weapons from Israel and compared that country’s actions in Gaza to those of Nazi Germany. “Tomorrow, diplomatic relations with the State of Israel will be broken … for having a genocidal president,” Petro said during an International Workers’ Day march in Colombia’s capital. “If Palestine dies, humanity dies, and we are not going to let it die.” Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz quickly rebuked Petro’s comments on the platform X. “History will remember that Gustavo Petro decided to side with the most despicable monsters known to…

Rachel Goldberg-Polin has met with numerous world leaders and addressed the UN twice in her advocacy efforts. Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose 23-year-old Israeli-American son is still being held hostage by Hamas terrorists following the Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel, has been included in this year’s Time magazine annual list of the “100 most influential people” for her global campaigning efforts to secure the release of her son and all the hostages in Gaza. Hersh Goldberg-Polin was abducted by Hamas terrorists from the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7. A video from his abduction shows Goldberg-Polin being shoved onto a pickup…

Employees had occupied company offices in both New York and California on a “No Tech for Genocide Day of Action.” Google fired on Wednesday 28 anti-Israel protestors who staged a loud, 10-hour sit-in at two head-office sites the previous day. “They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers,” the company’s vice president of global security, Chris Rackow, wrote in a company-wide memo. “Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened.” “Behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it,” he added. “It clearly…

While garnering broad support, the statement was only signed by Western nations. Forty-eight countries condemned Iran and its proxies for the Apr. 14 missile and drone attack on Israel in a joint statement issued on Wednesday evening. “We unequivocally condemn” the attacks, read the statement, specifically naming Iran and its “militant partners” and noting that “this large-scale attack could have caused significant damage and loss of life.” While garnering broad support, the statement was only signed by Western nations. The effort was led by the United States and included five other members of the U.N. Security Council—France, Japan, Malta, South…

Over the past decade, the U.S. Congress has dramatically increased security funding for synagogues. A 25-year veteran of the FBI, Rusty Rosenthal had a front-row seat to understanding the difference between U.S. and Israeli approaches to security during his 11 years working in the bureau’s Tel Aviv field office. “I worked with all the Israeli services—the Shin Bet, Mossad and the police—for all those years and really had an appreciation for their entire society’s culture of security, as opposed to ours sometimes, which is really a culture of freedom and privacy,” Rosenthal told JNS. “Sometimes those are at odds with…

A new in-depth survey conducted by the Pew Institute has shed light on the growing perception of discrimination against Jews and Muslims in the United States, particularly in the context of the Israel-Hamas war. The poll found a significant increase in the number of respondents who believe there is “a lot” of discrimination against Jews, from 20% in 2021 to 40% today. Similarly, the number of respondents who believe there is “a lot” of discrimination against Muslims rose from 39% to 44%. The survey also found that Jewish-American respondents are particularly aware of discrimination against their own community, with 72%…

Is Louis Vuitton really taking sides in the Israel-Hamas war by selling an $820 T-shirt with a graphic logo in the colors of the Palestinian flag? Some people on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict believe the answer is yes, after a shirt with the LV logo in magenta, green, black and white hit shelves—and social media—this week. Critics of the shirt say the colors in the logo appear to have been drawn from the colors of the Palestinian flag or a watermelon, an emergent symbol of Palestinian nationalism given its color. Some have associated it with an inverted red…