In a courageous and searingly candid acknowledgment of France’s complicity in the Holocaust, President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday that France had played a central role in one of its darkest chapters. Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Velodrome d’Hiver (Vel d’hiv) roundup of Jews in Paris in the summer of 1942, and speaking in the […]
Much to its credit, Germany — a nation still in the process of striving to overcome its Nazi past — has passed a law that will force social media companies to delete extremist messaging and posts on their digital platforms. The legislation, drafted by Justice Minister Heiko Maas recently, goes into effect in October. It […]
The Toronto Public Library came to its senses yesterday, albeit belatedly, when it announced it would review its discredited room rental policy. The library caused an uproar when one of its suburban branches permitted a bunch of white supremacists and racists to use its facilities for a private event on July 12. The controversy erupted […]
Three years years after the eruption of the third Gaza war, the Gaza Strip remains a tinderbox. The Gaza region has been fairly quiet since the end of the war, with relatively little cross-border fighting having broken out, but both sides are acutely aware that a fourth round of hostilities could easily flare up again. […]
Assimilated Hungarian Jews were in the forefront of shaping the popular culture of late 19th and early 20th century Budapest, one of the capitals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and one of the major cities in Europe today. Its edgy nightlife and innovative entertainment industry, encompassing coffee houses, clubs, music halls and theatres, were largely the creation […]
Convicted murderer Omar Khadr is laughing all the way to the bank. Or so it would seem. Khadr, a Canadian citizen born in Toronto, hit the jackpot after Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, decided to settle a $20 million lawsuit the Arab Canadian had filed against the federal government in 2013 for having breached his […]
It was, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India effusively described it, a “groundbreaking” visit. Modi, the first Indian prime minister to set foot on Israeli soil, was in Israel from July 4-6, visiting Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa and meeting Israeli decision-makers such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin, who visited […]
Simone Veil, one of the greatest figures in modern France, died recently in Paris at the age of 89. Some years ago, I had the good fortune of interviewing her. This is what I wrote: There is no other political figure in Europe like Simone Veil. One of France’s first female cabinet ministers, and the […]
We live in age when the media in America is under constant fire by conservative elites. President Donald Trump has led the charge, having accused newspapers and television networks of manufacturing “fake news.” Journalism appears to be under siege, begging the question whether the First Amendment, guaranteeing freedom of the press, is in danger of being […]
The “troubles” in Northern Ireland, which for decades violently pitted Protestants against Catholics, were finally resolved when their respective leaders, Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, agreed to form a national coalition government. The manner in which these hardened politicians created the conditions for this historic rapprochement unfolds in Nick Hamm’s absorbing film, The Journey, which […]