JTA Staff RSS

This article was posted by JTA staff.

Latest

• One of Hezbollah’s most important members arrested in Brazil

  September 21, 2018 2:49pm

  BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — One of Hezbollah’s most wanted members, Assad Ahmad Barakat, was arrested near Brazil’s border with Argentina and Paraguay on Friday. Barakat has been labeled by the U.S. Treasury as one of the Lebanese terrorist group’s main financiers. He is part of the Barakat Clan, a criminal organization known for its links to…

• Saying Bert and Ernie were gay, a writer for ‘Sesame Street’ reopens a furry-ous debate

  September 21, 2018 5:56am

  (JTA) — A former writer for the PBS children’s show “Sesame Street” said he based scripts starring the beloved characters Bert and Ernie on his own experience as one half of a gay couple. Mark Saltzman, who is Jewish, reopened a long-standing debate over the puppets’ sexuality in a Sept. 16 interview with Queery magazine….

• Analysis of 40,354 audio recordings of Argentina-Iran cover-up wins online journalism award

  September 17, 2018 12:20pm

  BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — An Argentine news outlet’s analysis of secret recordings about the bombing of the 1994 AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires beat out The Wall Street Journal and others to win an international journalism award. La Nacion, a daily, won the international Online Journalism Award from the Online News Association for…

• Argentina’s Parliament honors citizens who fought against the Nazis

  September 13, 2018 8:46am

  BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Argentina’s Parliament held a public national event to pay tribute to the 5,000 Argentine citizens who voluntary fought in World War II against the Nazis. The 17 remaining survivors of the original 5,000 volunteers received the tribute and a certificate during last week’s ceremony in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies,…

• Online hate makes up most of rising anti-Semitic incidents in Argentina

  September 6, 2018 2:14pm

  BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Anti-Semitic incidents in Argentina rose by 14 percent in 2017 over the previous year, according to a new report. The Annual Anti-Semitism Report prepared by the Center for Social Studies, or CES, of the Delegation of Argentine Israelites Associations, or DAIA, was released on Wednesday. The research body of the…

• Colombian national soccer team coach Jose Pekerman steps down

  September 5, 2018 4:40pm

  (JTA) — Jose Pekerman has stepped down as the coach of the Colombia national soccer team after leading the South American country back to international prominence, including two World Cup appearances, during his nearly seven-year run. Pekerman, 69, an Argentine who was the only Jewish coach or player  participating in the 2018 World Cup, decided not…

• Jew portrayed as money-grubbing at Czech city festival

  September 4, 2018 5:38pm

  (JTA) — A municipally organized street show in Prague celebrating Czech nationhood featured a skit apparently mocking an Orthodox Jew. In the skit, police characters remove a man dressed like an Orthodox Jew for demanding money from the event’s host, who wears traditional Czech attire. Sunday’s event was organized by the 3rd District of Prague….

• Argentine soccer player scrambles to stay in Israel with his family after contract cancelled

  September 2, 2018 7:35am

  BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Argentinian soccer player Pedro Galvan could be deported from Israel after the Hapoel Tel Aviv club cancelled his contrct. After 10 years of his professional career in Israel, Galvan is the top foreign scorer, notching 104 goals in 257 matches. The cancellation of his contract stops the process to obtain…

• A candidate compared wait lines at DMV to the Holocaust. He won’t do it again.

  August 16, 2018 3:59pm

  (JTA) — A Republican candidate for governor in California said he’d stop comparing wait times at the Department of Motor Vehicles to the experience of Holocaust survivors. Businessman John Cox had come under fire for telling a story Wednesday about a Holocaust survivor who complained about the long lines when the two met at a…

• Ben Stiller helps Gary Shteyngart sell his latest novel. Buyer beware.

  August 14, 2018 2:52pm

  (JTA) — Gary Shteyngart is nearly as successful in gathering A-list friends as he is in writing critically acclaimed novels. To promote his 2014 memoir “Little Failure,” he starred in a video that featured Rashida Jones as his publisher and James Franco as his husband. For his latest novel, “Lake Success,” Shteyngart has Ben Stiller…