Twenty years ago, on March 19, the second Gulf War in 12 years erupted as the United States launched devastating “shock and awe” air strikes in Baghdad in a prelude to its massive ground invasion of Iraq a day later. The American military campaign came on the heels of the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks that […]
In 2009, Javier Sinay, a journalist in Buenos Aires, received an email from his father alerting him to a 1947 newspaper article written by his great-grandfather, Mijl Hacohen Sinay, concerning the murders of 22 European Jewish settlers in Moises Ville from 1889 to 2006. The email piqued his interest in Moises Ville, one of the […]
When Watch on the Rhine was released in American theatres on September 4, 1943, a tipping point in World War II had already occurred. In an unmistakable signal that Germany was losing the war, the Wehrmacht had been defeated at the momentous Battle of Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. Yet nearly two more years would […]
Palestinians in the West Bank have soured on the notion of a two-state solution, says a prominent Palestinian researcher and student of the Arab-Israeli dispute. Palestinian public opinion has hardened against Israel to such a degree in recent years that only one-third of Palestinians endorse such an outcome, according to Khalil Shikaki, the director of […]
Rama Burshtein-Shai is back for an encore. Her last major production, Fill the Void, was a finely-crafted feature film about haredi Jews in Jerusalem. Fire Dance, an eight-part TV series, covers much of the same social and religious ground, but it is set in Tiberias. It will be screened online by the Toronto Jewish Film […]
It seemed like a bolt out of the blue, but it was actually the end result of arduous negotiations. A day after The New York Times published a story setting out Saudi Arabia’s conditions for making peace with Israel, Saudi Arabia reestablished diplomatic relations with its rival, Iran, after a hiatus of seven years. The news […]
George Stevens’ Woman of the Year was praised by The New York Times as one of the top ten movies of 1942. Hailing it “triumphant,” the Times‘ critic described it as “a cheering, delightful combination of tongue-tip wit and smooth romance.” Having just seen it on the Turner Classic Movies channel, I would agree with this […]
From the end of the 18th century to the second decade of the 20th century, virtually every Jewish person in the Russian empire was required by law to live in the Pale of Settlement, a vast region comprised of modern-day Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia and Lithuania. Starting in the 19th century, liberalization set in as […]
Israel’s complex and protracted conflict with the Palestinians often seems like a stubborn political and armed struggle defying resolution. Indeed, it may well continue to fester and explode for decades to come. Tangled Roots, a six-part Israeli television series now available on the ChaiFlicks streaming platform, delves into this messy imbroglio with honestly, clarity and […]
Joseph Joffo, a French Holocaust survivor, published a best-selling memoir in 1973, but more than four decades elapsed before it was converted into a movie. Christian Duguay’s absorbing feature film, A Bag of Marbles, a joint French-Canada production, will be available on DVD, iTunes and Amazon on March 14. The Joffos, a Russian Jewish family from […]