Zoe Leigh Hopkins celebrates Canada’s wilderness and its indigenous native culture in Kayak To Klemtu, a purebred Canadian movie opening in theaters on May 25. This is an old-fashioned film in the best sense of its meaning. No violence. No sex. No nudity. No pyrotechnics. In short, no gratuitous distractions. So refreshing. The plot is […]
Tellingly enough, Russia refrained from condemning Israel after it carried out massive air strikes in Syria against Iranian and Syrian targets on May 10. Russia, which has cordial relations with both Israel and Iran and a special relationship with Syria, issued an innocuous statement rather than a condemnation after Israel’s ferocious attack. Its deputy foreign minister, Mikhail […]
It was a day of jubilation and bloodshed, a surrealistic commingling of events. As the United States officially opened its embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, thereby fulfilling President Donald Trump’s campaign promise, Israeli troops, acting in self-defence, killed 60 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,300 from the Gaza Strip who had charged toward Israel’s […]
Shimon Redlich and Gabriel Shapiro immigrated to Israel as young men. Both have written engaging memoirs about their experiences in the Jewish state, which marks its 70th anniversary on May 14 by the Gregorian calendar. Redlich, a Ukrainian Jew, arrived in Israel in 1950 by way of Poland. In A New Life in Israel (Academic Studies […]
As a lawyer and as a member of the U.S. Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been a force for constructive change in the United States since the 1970s. “She created a legal landscape,” says one of her admirers in RBG, an upbeat and bracing documentary by Julie Cohen and Betsy West due to open […]
Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams taste the sweetness of forbidden fruit in Disobedience, a dark yet illuminating film by Sebastian Lelio set in London’s Orthodox Jewish community. Ronit (Weisz), a professional photographer who lives in New York City, and Esti (McAdams), a teacher at a local Jewish day school, are old friends who haven’t seen […]
It was a momentous moment in the Middle East, a dangerous turning point fraught with uncertainty. On May 9, a day after the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Moscow on one of his periodic trips to Russia to discuss current Middle Eastern issues with Russian President Vladimir […]
In what is probably a strategic blunder, U.S. President Donald Trump has withdrawn from the 2015 landmark Iran nuclear agreement, having denounced it as a “disastrous” and “horrible one-sided deal” that was “defective at its core.” Trump, however, offered to negotiate a new deal with Iran, but Iran is very likely to reject his proposition. […]
Weissensee, the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe, contains the remains of some of the most illustrious figures in German Jewish history. Covering an area of 42 hectares in northeastern Berlin, Weissensee is the final resting place of 115,000 souls in 120 sections. Prominent German Jews ranging from Leo Baeck and Hermann Cohen to Rudolf Mosse and […]
The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), one of the oldest humanitarian organizations, emerged from World War II with its reputation stained and damaged. Having come under fire for its failure to condemn the Holocaust or extend substantial assistance to Jews trapped in Nazi-occupied Europe, it attempted to improve its tarnished image by […]