Ron Kampeas (JTA) Archives

Ron Kampeas (JTA)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan speaks at a ceremony organized by the Council of Higher Education at Beştepe National Congress and Culture Center on October 9, 2023 in Ankara, Turkey. (Yavuz Ozden/ dia images via Getty Images)

October 26, 2023, 2:40 pm

Erdogan calls Hamas a ‘liberation group’ and cancels Israel trip

'Hamas is not a terrorist organisation, it is a liberation group, mujahideen waging a battle to protect its lands and people,' Erdogan says

By Ron Kampeas (JTA)

October 17, 2023, 2:34 pm

American Jews again faced the most hate crimes of any religious group in 2022, FBI reports

By Ron Kampeas (JTA)

Jedidiah Murphy wears a skull cap that was a gift from one of his supporters, Rabbi Yehuda Eber, in the death row unit at Polunsky prison in Livingston, Texas, Oct. 26, 2019. (Yehuda Eber)

October 6, 2023, 2:12 pm

Advocates for Jew on death row say hopes are dimming

Jedidiah Murphy killed 79-year-old Bertie Lee Cunningham during a carjacking in 2000 in Dallas County, Texas. He is due to die by lethal injection on Tuesday.

By Ron Kampeas (JTA)

The El Al departure counter at Ben Gurion International Airport.(Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

September 28, 2023, 9:20 am

US lets Israel into Visa Waiver Program, easing travel for Israeli citizens

This means that Israelis traveling to the U.S. will no longer have to go through a months-long visa application process that carried the threat of denial.

By Ron Kampeas (JTA)

Elon Musk. (SOPA Images/Design by Grace Yagel)

September 27, 2023, 10:06 am

More than 120 Jewish activists call on advertisers and app stores to drop Twitter/X

“We have watched in horror as a new stage in antisemitic discourse has spread like wildfire on one of America’s largest social media networks,” the activist say.

By Ron Kampeas (JTA)

September 23, 2023, 8:09 pm

Netanyahu touts prospects for deals with Saudi Arabia and even the Palestinians in UN speech

He told the U.N. General Assembly: “Now as the circle of peace expands, I a real path towards a genuine peace with our Palestinian neighbours can finally be achieved.”

By Ron Kampeas (JTA)

September 4, 2023, 9:31 am

US officials call for Yad Vashem’s ‘independence’ amid reports that Netanyahu plans to fire Holocaust memorial’s director

Israeli media reported last week that Netanyahu’s government is planning on firing Dani Dayan, the incumbent chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial museum.

By Ron Kampeas (JTA)

An aerial image shows destroyed homes and buildings burned to the ground in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii, Aug. 10, 2023. (Patrick T. Fallon AFP via Getty Images)

August 14, 2023, 10:20 am

Jewish groups launch relief effort for Maui as island’s Jews are among the evacuated

Hawaii’s Jewish governor, Josh Green, toured the town of Lahaina on the island of Maui, which the wildfires have all but destroyed.

By Ron Kampeas (JTA)

Rabbi Jeffrey Myers leads survivors and families of the attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in a prayer of thanks, at the Jewish Community Center in Pittsburgh, Aug. 2, 2023. (Ron Kampeas)

August 3, 2023, 9:19 am

After synagogue gunman’s death sentence, Pittsburgh’s Jews feel relief and gratitude

“The only thing positive about the sentencing of a criminal is that this long slog is over,” said Audrey Glickman, who hid in the synagogue on the day of the attack.

By Ron Kampeas (JTA)

Donald Trump speaks during an event at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Fla., Nov. 15, 2022. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

August 3, 2023, 9:12 am

Jewish groups condemn Trump’s comparison of indictment to Nazi persecution

“The lawlessness of these persecutions of President Trump and his supporters is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s,” Trump's campaign said.

By Ron Kampeas (JTA)

August 2, 2023, 5:32 pm

Pittsburgh synagogue shooter sentenced to death

The sentence marks an end to the months-long trial of Robert Bowers, who was convicted in June of murdering 11 Jews during Shabbat prayers on October 27, 2018.

By Ron Kampeas (JTA)

Greg Gutfeld attends Fox News' "The Five" at Fox News Studios in New York City, June 28, 2023. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)

July 26, 2023, 9:53 am

White House blasts Fox News host’s claim that ‘you had to be useful’ in death camps

“What Fox News allowed to be said on their air yesterday –- and has so far failed to condemn –- is an obscenity,” Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, said.

By Ron Kampeas (JTA)

Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem in 2013. (Photo By Matty Stern/State Department/Sipa USA)

July 24, 2023, 9:11 pm

White House calls passage of Israel’s first judicial reform bill ‘unfortunate’

The entire opposition in the 120-member body boycotted the vote in the face of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to delay the proceedings while the sides sought compromise.

By Ron Kampeas (JTA)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen during a vote in Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, March 22, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

July 23, 2023, 6:09 pm

Netanyahu undergoes pacemaker placement surgery

Operation comes a week after Netanyahu, 73, was briefly hospitalised for what he said was dehydration, and was given a heart monitor.

By Ron Kampeas (JTA)

-Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Fla., Nov. 15, 2022. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

July 21, 2023, 9:14 am

Trump to return ancient ‘national treasure’ oil lamps to Israel

The announcement came after a revelation this week that the Israel Antiquities Authority had been asking for the return of the lamps for months, to no avail.

By Ron Kampeas (JTA)

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