The U.S. Department of Education will investigate the University of Southern California after a Jewish student claimed she resigned from student government because she endured harassment over her pro-Israel views. The probe by the department’s Office for Civil Rights stems from a complaint by the Jewish advocacy nonprofit Louis D. Brandeis Center alleging the university in Los Angeles “allowed a hostile environment of anti-Semitism to proliferate on its campus,” the center said in a statement Tuesday. The complaint was filed on behalf of Rose Ritch, who stepped down as student body vice president in August 2020.

Since the report earlier this month that Ukraine will not allow Breslover chassidim into the country for Rosh Hashanah, there have been varying reports that the decision may be reversed. In response to those reports, including one that indicated that entry to Ukraine will be possible via Moldova, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk announced on Monday that an official entry ban to Ukraine will be issued prior to Rosh Hashanah. “Today, there is really no official ban on entering Ukraine,” Korniychuk stated. “However the Ukrainian President’s Office clarified that relevant restrictions on entering the country will be adopted and approved before the fall holiday (Rosh Hashanah).” “The state of Ukraine is responsible for the health and lives of all who enter it.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Vinnytsia, a city in western Ukraine with a large Jewish population, was considered a safe haven as it was far from the front lines. But the residents’ sense of security was irretrievably shattered when the city came under Russian attack late last week. Over 23 people were killed, including three young children, and over 100 people were injured when three Russian missiles fired from a Russian ship in the Black Sea damaged offices, residential buildings, stores, and a medical clinic on Thursday. President Volodymyr Zelensky called the killings an act of terrorism – a deliberate targeting of civilians in a location without military value.

As Russia continues to crack down on its citizens and restrict personal freedoms, fear is growing that it may be preparing to ban immigration to Israel, Yediot Achranot reported. The report quoted immigration activist Alex Rif as saying that recent demands by Moscow could be the first step in ending Russian Jewish immigration to Israel. Earlier this month, The Jerusalem Post reported that the Russian government ordered the Jewish Agency to halt all activities inside the country. Although the Agency later denied it was being forced to shut down, saying that the government “merely” noted the Agency’s “administrative issues” that could have “possible legal consequences,” it is apparent that the “legal consequences” could make it impossible for the Agency to operate in Israel.

Rav Hillel Cohen, who has been assisting Jewish soldiers in Ukraine for months, was officially appointed the Chief Rabbi of the Ukrainian armed forces over the weekend, Ynet reported. Rav Cohen has been living in Ukraine for 23 years and working in kiruv. He explained how he began aiding Ukrainian soldiers amid his lifesaving work of assisting thousands of Jews to flee the country. “While I was helping rescue Jewish refugees in Ukraine, I began to receive requests from Israelis and Ukrainians regarding military aid. There was an Israeli whose brother was drafted into the army, and I helped him obtain a helmet and a vest from Israel.

The Jewish kehilla in Chile was outraged last week by the publication of an ad for discount alcohol featuring anti-Semite memes, Ynet reported. Chilean alcohol distributor Arbol Verde advertised its discount alcohol with the image of a hook-nosed and hunchbacked Jew wearing a yarmulke rubbing his hands in glee over the dollar bills he’s saving by purchasing the “cheap” alcohol. The Jewish community in Chile numbers about 18,000 people. “It is not the written press of Nazi Germany in 1940, it is today’s Chile publishing in [Las Últimas Noticias] antisemitic caricatures that in other countries would have generated wall-to-wall repudiation! What a shame,” Chilean MP Gabriel Silber tweeted.

Jacki Sundheim, z’l, was the first victim identified following the mass shooting at a July 4th parade in Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago, on Monday. The ZAKA organization reported that an elderly Jewish man was also among the dead. Several other Jewish people were wounded. Highland Park has a high percentage of Jewish residents, including Israelis. The North Shore Congregation Israel in nearby Glencoe announced that Sundheim, z’l, a lifelong member and events coordinator at the Reform synagogue, had been killed in the shooting. “Jacki was a lifelong congregant of NSCI and a cherished member of NSCI’s staff team for decades,” the statement said. “Jacki’s work, kindness and warmth touched us all.” Jacki was survived by her husband Bruce and daughter Leah.

Jonah Handler’s miraculous rescue from one of the deadliest building collapses in U.S. history might seem to have an obvious parallel, given his name. The teenage boy fell from the 10th floor of the beachfront condo tower that collapsed a year ago in Surfside, Florida, killing 98 people, including his mother. He landed in a crevice, trapped inside a pocket amid fallen concrete. A man who had been walking his dog saw Jonah’s hand waving from the rubble and got help. For his father and others, the rescue brings to mind the Old Testament tale of the prophet Jonah, swallowed by a whale sent by God to save him from drowning. “Plucked from the jaws of death,” Neil Handler said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were seen visiting the Kosel on Wednesday with their children. The family landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel on Monday morning. There have been no reports on the reason for their visit but it’s possible that it’s a combination family trip/business visit. The Wall Street Journal reported in May that Kushner founded a private equity fund that is investing millions of dollars from Saudi Arabia into Israeli tech companies. חתנו ובתו של הנשיא לשעבר טראמפ הגיעו לביקור פרטי בכותל ולאחר תפילה הטמינו פתק עם בקשות אישיות. @Yoni_Kempinski pic.twitter.com/clikgbIf47 — ערוץ 7 (@arutz7heb) June 22, 2022 (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

An Indonesian art collective’s banner that was widely criticized as containing antisemitic elements was covered up at a major art show in Germany and was to be taken down on Tuesday, officials said. The large installation by Taring Padi, titled “People’s Justice,” drew objections after it was put up in a central square in the city of Kassel as part of the documenta contemporary art show. Criticism centered on the depiction on the banner of a soldier with the face of a pig, wearing a neckerchief with a Star of David and a helmet inscribed with the word “Mossad,” the name of Israel’s intelligence agency. On Monday, the Israeli Embassy in Berlin said it was “appalled by the antisemitic elements” that were being shown in Kassel and called for their immediate removal from the exhibition.