World news-roundup: Wooden Russian shul re-opens for Rosh Hashanah

Country: Russia

A bright blue wooden synagogue is being reopened in time for Rosh Hashanah in the Jewish Autonomous Region of Russia after extensive renovation work. Beit Tshuva, in the city of Birobidzhan, near China, fell into disrepair in the late 1980s as thousands of Jews upped sticks for Israel and the United States.

Country: United States

Two Jewish mother and daughter were beaten up on the New York metro because the attacker thought they were Muslim. The women, aged 37 and 57, were taking a train on Wednesday afternoon when a man swore at them, spat at them and called them ‘dirty Muslims’ before punching them.

Country: Brazil

Jewish youth groups have boycotted an Israeli dance festival in Rio because the venue hosted a congressman who wants a return to military dictatorship. Chazit Hanoar, Habonim Dror and Hashomer Hatzair said Jair Bolsonaro’s talk at Rio Hebraica was ‘the most aggressive hate speech ever given to the Jewish community’.

Country: Argentina

Argentina has given Israel digital copies of 139,000 documents covering 1939-50, some relating to Nazi war criminals. The Argentine president said it was ‘historic Argentinean documentation digitalised about the Holocaust for the use of the State of Israel to investigate and spread the information’.