Articles written by Ron Kampeas
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Paris mayor revokes Mahmoud Abbas' top honor after he spreads Holocaust falsehoods
(JTA) — In a blistering letter, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that he no longer deserves a medal she gave him eight years ago — her city’s top honor — because of what she called his willful...
Jewish groups launch relief effort as island's Jews are among the evacuated
(JTA) - Jewish groups in the United States and in Hawaii are launching relief efforts following the devastation caused by wildfires that have killed more than 50 people so far. The wildfires have all...
White supremacist man arrested for allegedly threatening jurors, witnesses in Pittsburgh shooting trial
(JTA) — Federal agents arrested a West Virginia man on Thursday for allegedly threatening jurors and witnesses in the trial of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter, which culminated last week in a death sentence. The man who was arrested, Hardy Lloyd,...
After synagogue gunman's death sentence, Pittsburgh's Jews feel relief
PITTSBURGH (JTA) - The overriding feeling in this city now that the gunman convicted of murdering 11 Jews here in 2018 has been sentenced to death is gratitude. Not for the penalty itself, which was...
JFK documents reveal assassin's CIA monitor was Reuben Efron, a Jewish spy who loved Midrash
(JTA) — For decades, armchair analysts scrutinizing the mysteries of the President John F. Kennedy assassination have fixated on who, exactly, opened his future assassin’s mail while he was under CIA surveillance. As the conspiracy theory went,...
White House blasts Fox News host's claim that 'you had to be useful' in death camps
WASHINGTON (JTA) - In an extraordinary swipe at a popular Fox News Channel host, a White House official condemned Greg Gutfeld's claim that "you had to be useful" to survive Nazi death camps. "What Fo...
Pittsburgh synagogue shooter is dismayed not to have inspired more attacks on Jews, psychiatrist testifies
PITTSBURGH (JTA) — “If I have chance, will continue war,” appeared in a scrawl on a notepad, projected onto large TV screens in the courtroom. The image showed a note taken by a psychiatrist in early June as he assessed Robert Bowers, the man...
Herzog says Israel should take Biden's concerns about judicial overhaul into consideration
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Joe Biden’s concerns about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned overhaul of Israel’s courts system should be taken into account by the Israeli parties seeking a compromise, Israeli President Isaac Herzog...
Pittsburgh jury finds synagogue gunman eligible for the death penalty, setting up trial's final phase
PITTSBURGH (JTA) — Jurors in the trial of the gunman who killed 11 Jewish worshipers in a Pittsburgh synagogue took less than two hours to find him eligible for the death penalty, setting up a final phase of the historic proceedings in which the...
Jewish quotas were at the heart of Supreme Court affirmative action ruling
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Harvard’s 20th-century antisemitic Jewish quotas were a key part of the Supreme Court’s decision to gut affirmative action on Thursday, as the winning litigant and two conservative justices cited them in the landmark case....
Evangelical churches are turning to a Jewish nonprofit to help them have hard conversations
(JTA) – Jeff Nitz, a social worker and lay leader at his church, sees himself as a trained listener. But beginning in 2020, his congregation — Mosaic Church in the evangelical Christian hub of Lynchburg, Virginia — started becoming riven by...
Hike in funding for monitor
WASHINGTON (JTA) —A congressional committee approved an increase in funding for the office of Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department’s antisemitism monitor, from $1.5 million to $2.5 million. The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Comm...
Biden slams Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority in CNN interview
WASHINGTON (JTA) - President Joe Biden blamed increasing tension in Judea and Samaria on the "lost credibility" of the Palestinian Authority as well as on "extreme" ministers in Israel's government....
Supreme Court ruling in Sabbath accommodation case has far-reaching consequences for observant Jews
WASHINGTON (JTA) — In a case that drew support from a broad array of Jewish groups, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that employers had to show a “substantial” burden to deny workers religious accommodation. In a decision released Thursday,...
Palestinian gunman kills Israeli soldier outside of Kedumim, Bezalel Smotrich's home settlement
(JTA) - A Palestinian gunman killed an Israeli soldier when security forces stopped the gunman while he was driving near the Kedumim settlement in northern Samaria. The gunman was killed after the...
'Fiddler' lyricist dies at 99
(JTA) - The moment when Sheldon Harnick realized that his new musical might be something special came when he sang the lyrics he had just composed for a new song: "Sunrise, Sunset." He was sitting...
65 senators urge Israel's entry into the Visa Waiver Program by end of September
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Some 65 U.S. senators from both parties have urged the Biden administration to finalize Israel’s entry into the Visa Waiver Program by Sept. 30. Israel has sought to join the program, which enables citizens to travel to the...
Arkansas legislature names 'Judea and Samaria' as 'Israel's biblical heartland' in resolution
(JTA) — The Arkansas House of Representatives approved a resolution encouraging trade with Israel that specifically mentions “Judea and Samaria,” the biblical name for the West Bank favored by Israel’s government. The resolution, approved las...
Jury finds Pittsburgh synagogue shooter guilty on all counts
PITTSBURGH (JTA) - The gunman who committed the worst antisemitic attack in U.S. history is guilty of all charges he faced, according to the verdict delivered by a federal jury on Friday morning. Robe...
Israel's Diaspora minister calls J Street 'hostile'
(JTA) — Amichai Chikli, the Israeli Diaspora minister who has antagonized some liberal segments of American Jewry, called J Street “hostile” to Israel after it retweeted a photo of the minister from New York City’s Celebrate Israel Parade....
Antony Blinken tells AIPAC Israel-Saudi ties are a priority while 2-state solution 'can feel remote'
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Biden administration is fully invested in Israel-Saudi normalization, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC on Monday. He also said he does not see a breakthrough in Israeli-Palestinian...
Senior Biden administration official: Israel's Diaspora minister 'does not understand the American Jewish Diaspora'
WASHINGTON (JTA) - The Biden administration has joined the chorus of American voices criticizing Israeli Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli. A photo in which Chikli is making a face at a pro-Israel...
Mike Pence and the Jews: What to know as he begins a presidential campaign
WASHINGTON (JTA) - Until the certification of the electoral vote on Jan. 6, 2021, Mike Pence made sure to stay on the same page as Donald Trump - except, sometimes, when it came to the Jews. Both...
Pat Robertson dies at 93
(JTA) - Pat Robertson was trying to pay Jews a compliment. "They'd rather be polishing diamonds than fixing cars," he said in 2014 on his show on the Christian Broadcasting Network, the station the...
Kamala Harris praises 'independent judiciary' in speech at Israeli embassy event
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Speaking before one of the leading architects of the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul, Vice President Kamala Harris stressed the importance of independent courts in a democracy. Harris’s speech on Tuesday came after a...
