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World Jewish Congress applauds TikTok policy removing content perpetuating “hateful stereotypes”

President of the World Jewish Congress Ronald S. Lauder welcomed the decision, adding "As TikTok mentioned in their announcement, eliminating hate from TikTok ‘is a tall mountain to climb.’ I’m not sure we will ever reach the peak, but we must not rest on our way there." Read More... 

World Jewish Congress congratulates WJC North America leaders on receiving Honorary Fellow of the Zionist Movement

WJC President Ronald S. Lauder congratulated the WJC honorees, saying, “The WJC wishes Evelyn Sommer and Rabbi Joel Meyers a hearty mazal tov as they continue to serve WJC North America and United States with zeal and commitment, imparting their wisdom and vast experience, as they challenge us to ever expand our reach to support and advocate for the Jewish State.” Read More... 

Rabbi Arthur Schneier Receives Golden Laurel Branch Award from the Foreign Ministry of Bulgaria

The award was given to Rabbi Schneier, who serves as the honorary WJC Vice President in recognition of “his outstanding merit to the promotion of interreligious and intercultural understanding.” Presenting the award to Schneier was Permanent Representative of the Republic of Bulgaria to the United Nations Georgi Velikov Panayotov. Read More... 

Applications open for Campus Pitch Competition 

The World Jewish Congress and Consulate General of Israel in New York invite university students at the undergraduate or graduate level to pitch their idea for a campus event, strategy or initiative that takes a new approach to support Israel, combating antisemitism or promoting inter-community relations. Learn more and apply at campuspitch.org. Watch Now... 

WebTalk | A Changing Region: Building Bridges in a New Middle East

In the wake of the UAE and Bahrain’s normalization agreements with Israel, fmr. Ambassador of the United States to the Sultanate of Oman Marc J. Sievers speaks with WJC Jewish Diplomatic Corps member Efrat Sopher about the ever-changing geopolitics of the Middle East. Watch Now... 

Digital Governance: A Jewish Perspective 

WJC and friends hosted an online event to speak about Digital Governance in the EU. The event featured remarks from European Commission Vice President for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová and panel discussion with Facebook and UNESCO representatives. Watch Now... 

'The denial of the Srebrenica genocide should be punished'

In an interview with Al Jazeera Balkans, WJC Associate Executive Vice President Menachem Z. Rosensaft says, "It is tragic that this seems to be an outgrowth of the deliberate and extremely immoral denial of the Srebrenica genocide by too many leading people of Republika Srpska." Read More... 

European Commission to publish ‘comprehensive’ strategy to combat antisemitism

The announcement was made in the European Commission’s 2021 Work Programme as part of "promoting our European way of life.” The report outlines dozens of actions the European Commission will take – most notably actions to combat the coronavirus – in the coming year. Read Now... 

David Saltiel: Golden Dawn was dangerous either as an organization or as a party in parliament

President of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece David Saltiel reflects on an Athens court decision to convict the leadership of the country’s Golden Dawn national political party for heading up a criminal organization: “This verdict was very rightfully described as a “historic” one and a “landmark decision." Epic, I would add.” Read Now... 

Westminster is the right place for a Holocaust memorial

President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews Marie van der Zyl welcomes a proposal to place a Holocaust memorial next to the Houses of Parliament, writing in The Times, "There is something uniquely powerful in situating a memorial and learning center to humankind’s greatest crime right next to the center of the UK’s democracy." Read More... 

Coronavirus cabinet delays decision to reopen schools, shops | The Times of Israel

After an hours-long meeting, the so-called coronavirus cabinet meeting ended without making any decision on reopening schools and stores, the next two stages in a multi-phase Health Ministry plan for ending the lockdown. Ministers agreed to reconvene to reach a final decision by Monday. Read More... 

Israel, Bahrain seal the deal establishing formal ties

Israel and Bahrain signed an official agreement to establish formal diplomatic relations, making the Gulf country the fourth Arab state to normalize ties with Israel. Last month Bahrain joined the UAE at a White House ceremony in a ceremony inaugurating the Abraham Accords. Watch Now... 

New poll highlights Saudi interest in peace with Israel | Jpost

According to a newly published poll, nearly 80% of Saudis are in favor of working towards normalizing ties with Israel within the next five years, with 71% thinking it likely that other Arab states will normalize ties without a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. Read More... 

The traditional Jewish prayer Gal Gadot says every day | Jpost

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Israeli actress Gal Gadot reflected on Judaism’s role in her day-to-day life, noting that she says the traditional prayer of Modeh Ani everyday: “I wake up and step out of bed and I say, ‘Thank you for everything, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.’ Nothing is to be taken for granted.” Read More... 

UN arms embargoes on Iran expires | AP

A decade-long U.N. arms embargo that barred Iran from purchasing foreign weapons like tanks and fighter jets expired on October 12th. In August, following the UN Security Council's failure to extend the conventional weapons embargo, WJC President Ronald S. Lauder called on the Security Council to correct its decision and “take immediate action to ensure Iran is unable to acquire conventional weapons." Read More... 

Teacher decapitated after showing students cartoons of Muhammad 

The Representative Council of Jews of France denounced the vicious terror attack, saying "Those who incite hatred have held the assassin's hand and are complicit in this ignominy. They must answer for their actions. Crif condemns the escalation of these acts of hatred which attack France's most precious values..." Read More... 

What I’ve learned about Emirati culture as the chief rabbi’s wife

“The Islamic faith is interlaced throughout the culture of the UAE: The airports have ablution rooms for prayer preparation, the amusement parks interrupt their stream of music with calls for prayer and hotel rooms provide Qurans and prayer mats. I’m constantly awed by the way secular and religious practices support each other,” writes Michelle Waldman Sarna in the JTA. Read More... 

New Swiss Jewish community president warns of rising antisemitism: ‘You mustn’t wait for something to happen’

Ralph Lewin, the new head of the umbrella organization for Jews in Switzerland, sat down with Swiss newspaper Aargauer Zeitung for his first major interview since being elected. Lewin discussed several of topics of interest to the Jewish community including, the rise of antisemitism in Sweden, Holocaust remembrance and Israel. Read More... 

WJC joins G20 Interfaith Forum

The annual conference enables religiously linked institutions and initiatives to recommend solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing the global community: hunger, poverty, global health crisis, inequalities and climate change. Read More... 

20 October 1930 | Passfield White Paper restricts Jewish immigration to Palestine 

The Passfield White Paper caused widespread outrage in the Yishuv (the Jewish community living in Palestine), as well as Zionists in other parts of the world who believed that the new policy violated the Balfour Declaration. Read More... 

22 October 1979 | Moshe Dayan resigns from Israeli government

Foreign Minister Dayan’s resignation was prompted in part by his disagreement with Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s intention to assert Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank. In his resignation letter, Dayan stated, “It is no secret to you that I differ over the technique and the substance whereby the autonomy negotiations are being conducted.” Read More... 

Chayele Rosenthal, the songbird of the Vilna ghetto

From Vilna to Paris and then Cape Town, famed Yiddish singer and actress Chayele Rosenthal carried with her a tragic story. Despite living in unconscionable times, Rosethanal raised the spirits of her fellow Jews facing death in the Vilna ghetto by participating in the ghetto's theatre performances. Watch Now...