World news-roundup: Amsterdam to twin with Tel Aviv and Ramallah

Country: France

Jewish community leaders say a rally against Jewish intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy in Paris was ‘anti-Semitic’. Protesters accused him of ‘waging Zionist war’ and of being ‘a Talmudic philosopher’. Levy, who says Israelis were ‘gentle’ in Gaza last year, argues for French military involvement in Arab states.

Country: Belgium

The first organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Jews in Brussels has opened after Reform Jews pledged their support. The group, which has 60 members, will hold get-togethers over Shabbat and holidays. Organisers said they hope to form links with the small LGBT community in Luxembourg.

Country: Netherlands

Amsterdam is to ratify a twinning agreement with Tel Aviv and Ramallah five months after scrapping it. The capital’s City Council approved the motion after pro-Palestinian activists opposed a similar measure first proposed two years ago. The Dutch Jewish community welcomed the delayed move.

Country: Germany

The body of a Lithuanian Jewish woman who died in Berlin in 1937 en route to the U.S. has been exhumed for reburial next to her husband in Chicago. It is a rare exception to Jewish law that forbids the disturbance of graves. ‘Hitler was in power, there was no time to wait,’ said Berlin’s Rabbi Yehudah Teichtal.

Country: United States

Porn star Joanna Angel says her Orthodox Jewish parents in New Jersey have accepted her career choice and that criticism has ‘made us closer’. Angel, 34, whose real name is Mostov, runs a porn website but grew up observant and attended Jewish schools. She is thought to be the first Orthodox Jew in porn.

Country: Syria

Details are emerging about the secret Israeli mission to rescue the last Jewish family living in Syria. The family, headed by an 88-year old matriarch, finally agreed to leave their Aleppo home when ISIS fighters began closing in. They are now resettling in Ashkelon, after escaping over the Turkish border.