SPAIN (JTA) – At least a quarter of all the people who applied for Spanish nationality under the country’s law of return for descendants of Sephardic Jews were not Jewish, according to local media. Of the 153,767 applicants, 52,823 came from four Latin American countries — Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Ecuador — whose […]

In the latest violation of the 2015 Iran nuclear accord, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that Iran would resume centrifuge operations at its Fordow underground nuclear facility, according to the AFP.
“Starting from tomorrow [Wednesday], we will begin injecting [uranium hexafluoride] gas at Fordow,” Rouhani said in a speech broadcast by Iranian state television. According to Iran, the International Atomic Energy Agency will supervise work at the facility.
The European Union warned on Monday that its support for the nuclear deal depended on Iran fulfilling its commitments, according to the report.

NEW YORK (AP) – It’s everywhere New York City’s retiring police commissioner wants to be. James O’Neill is going to start work next month as the new senior vice president and global head of physical security for credit card giant Visa Inc., the company said Wednesday. O’Neill announced Monday that he is leaving the New […]

An advanced Israeli missile was recovered by the Syrian military in 2018 and transferred to Russia for study, Chinese media reported on Wednesday.
According to China’s SINA news site, the missile, part of Israel’s David’s Sling defense system, came down in the Syrian Golan Heights after missing its target, believed to have been a Syrian missile.
The Israeli interceptor missile was one of two fired on July 23, 2018, in response to the launch by Syria of two Russian tactical ballistic missiles. When it became apparent that the missiles had not been fired at Israel, one of the David’s Sling interceptors was remotely destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces, whereas the second landed largely intact in the Syrian Golan.

NEW YORK (AP) – A veterans organization says President Donald Trump has accepted an invitation to kick off the New York City Veterans Day Parade next week. United War Veterans Council Chairman Douglas McGowan announced Wednesday that Trump will offer a tribute at the opening ceremony of Monday’s 100th annual parade. McGowan says presidents have […]

Q:
We believe that shidduchim are made in heaven; so what’s the principle in the gemara that you have to hurry up to find something good because שמא יקדמנו אחר – maybe somebody else might snatch the opportunity away from you (Mo’ed Katan 18b). If it’s ordained, it’s ordained; what’s there to worry about?
A:
This is an old question that is asked here constantly. And the answer is that when it comes to marriage, to a bashert, it’s ordained that you should have the opportunity. But you could lose the opportunity – in a couple of ways.

ANKARA (AP) – Turkey has captured a wife of the slain leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday. Erdogan made the announcement while delivering a speech in the capital of Ankara but gave no other details. He did not say when or how the woman was […]

As the New York City Police Department announced on Tuesday that its hate crimes unit was investigating a series of attacks last Friday night against Orthodox Jews in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, a prominent leader of the community warned that the ongoing threat of antisemitic violence meant that “people in some neighborhoods are scared to leave their houses.”
Speaking to The Algemeiner on Tuesday, Rabbi Yaacov Behrman — the founder of the Brooklyn-based Jewish Future Alliance — said that the spate of attacks over the last two years against Orthodox Jews in the Williamsburg, Crown Heights and Borough Park neighborhoods were overwhelmingly perceived within the community as being spurred by antisemitic malice.

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Nita Lowey, who is retiring after 32 years in Congress, fields a question about her legacy as a Jewish lawmaker. No trouble there — she talks about Israel and her Jewish pride all the time. Then there’s one about her legacy as one of the pioneering women in Congress. That one goes […]

JERSEY CITY, NJ (AP) – Airbnb was dealt another setback in one of its most important markets Tuesday as voters in a New Jersey city just a few minutes by train from the tourist sights of Manhattan approved restrictions on short-term rental companies in a hard-fought referendum. The vote in Jersey City was lopsided in […]