(JTA) — A homeless man pleaded guilty to burning down a historic Minnesota synagogue earlier this month. Prosecutors have indicated that they intend to ask for probation for Matthew James Amiot, 36, The Associated Press reported. He could have faced a maximum of three years in prison. Amiot pleaded guilty to negligent fire charges on […]

GEORGIA – A Haredi man from the Har Nof section of Jerusalem was the victim of a tragic car crash near Tiblisi, Georgia. Yosef Dov Bakar, 25, was traveling to Uman for Rosh Hashanah and stopped in Georgia with some friends to tour the country when he was involved in the serious crash outside of […]

The dwellings of two Palestinians accused of murdering yeshiva student and Israeli army recruit Dvir Sorek will be destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces, after an appeal by the suspects’ families was denied on Tuesday. Nasir and Qassem Asafra are accused of ambushing and stabbing to death 18-year-old Sorek, who disembarked a bus outside Kibbutz […]

(JTA) — The Jewish calendar year 5779 was a turbulent and often painful one for Jews around the world. Mounting global anti-Semitism, two deadly American synagogue shootings and two (as yet) inconclusive Israeli elections in the space of just a few months were among the stories that defined and helped frame the communal discussion as […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A week ago, impeachment was not the flavor of the season. The interest in Robert Mueller’s special counsel report into Russian election interference had waned, and the testimony by Mueller before Congress in July failed to advance the narrative much. President Donald Trump seemed to have come through the controversy politically unscathed. […]

WASHINGTON (JNS) Senior American officials are extremely frustrated over the ongoing political deadlock in Israel. Trump administration officials familiar with American-Israeli relations said in private discussion with Israel Hayom recently that the political stalemate was leading to a significant missed opportunity from Israel’s perspective. The officials didn’t expand on the specific steps the administration would currently be taking […]

NEW YORK (JNS) Israeli, Jewish and pro-Israel groups all applauded the publication of an ‘unprecedented’ United Nations report on anti-Semitism, that, among other issues, links anti-Semitism to criticism of Israel and the BDS movement. “This report marks one of the first times the U.N. has addressed the issue of anti-Semitism in any detail,” said Anne Herzberg, […]

NEW YORK (JTA) — WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann has stepped down as CEO of the shared office space company, which has suffered a major devaluation amid investors’ fears over the charismatic but unpredictable leader’s control of the firm. The company was valued at the beginning of the year at $47 billion, but that figure has […]

(JTA) — An attorney under contract with the city of Trenton, New Jersey, resigned after the City Council president used the term “Jew her down” during an executive session earlier this month. Stuart Platt sent a letter of resignation to the city clerk on Thursday, giving up a $25,000 contract to serve as the city’s […]

(JTA) — Jewish men were attacked in two incidents in Brooklyn neighborhoods in recent days. The New York borough has seen a number of assaults against identifiable Jews in the past several months. On Monday, a man walking to morning prayers in the Gravesend neighborhood was verbally assaulted before the assailant attempted to punch him […]