World news-roundup!

Country: Germany

The president of the Jewish community of Berlin has denied he came to power through voter fraud, after allegations made by a former executive. Gideon Joffe, who earns was elected to the £100,000 per year role in 2011, but Boris Braun has said he was told to rig the ballots.

Country: France 

A Parisian secondary school teacher is being investigated for sharing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories with students on Facebook. It follows reports in Le Canard Enchainé that the woman, who has not been named, allegedly wrote: ‘The Shoah was designed and organised by Jews.’

Country: Belgium

An Israeli professor refusing to grant his wife a religious divorce was arrested in Antwerp. Oded Guez, from Bar-Ilan University, disappeared in April, after being banished by a rabbinical court, and Israeli authorities ordered him to stay put. He is thought to have a false passport.

Country: India

Six men have been arrested on suspicion of gang-raping a 25-year old Israeli woman in northern India. The victim, a tourist who had been left by her friends in an isolated rural region, reported it to the authorities on Sunday morning. She said she flagged a vehicle driven by the accused.

Country: South Africa

A ban on women singing at the Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony in Cape Town has been overturned after international criticism and a legal complaint against the South Africa Jewish Board of Deputies. The U-turn was accompanied by a board promise to ‘restructure future ceremonies’.

Country: Italy

Shakespeare’s ‘Merchant of Venice’ has been performed in the main square of the historic Venice ghetto, where the Bard’s classic was set. The production, which features Jewish moneylender Shylock, is part of a series of events marking 400 years since the playwright’s death.