Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... TEL AVIV — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would advance legislation allowing Israel to revoke the citizenship of people who defame soldiers or the state abroad, citing “NAZA,” the prize-winning documentary accusing the military of knowingly killing large numbers of civilians in Gaza.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Hundreds of Jewish day school students, parents and alumni gathered outside Gracie Mansion on Friday for a morning of singing and prayers in which they called out New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani for his anti-Israel rhetoric. Ahead of what the organizers billed as a vigil, some Jewish critics said it inappropriately deployed children as political props.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The lieutenant governor of Texas says his recent call for the state’s public schools to remove “over 2,000 titles” of “dirty, filthy and vulgar books” was not meant to include books about the Holocaust.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The last time Macklemore drew fire from the Jewish community for a controversial performance, he apologized, there was forgiveness — and the rapper asked fans to support the Anti-Defamation League. That was May 2014, when Macklemore wore an onstage costume featuring a large hooked prosthetic nose, black wig and bushy beard, prompting many commentators to say that he was indulging a Jewish stereotype.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Is there still an appetite for Israeli spy stories? That is one question being tested by two different productions arriving in the United States this month: “Checkout,” a dark Israeli comedy about an aging Mossad operative, and the fifth season of “Fauda,” the Israeli action thriller about undercover counterterrorism agents.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... TEL AVIV – Throughout 2023, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans for a radical judicial overhaul convulsed Israel and reverberated throughout the Diaspora, with American Jewish leaders joining Israeli opponents of the plan in mass protests. Critics of the reforms, in Israel and abroad, perceived a threat to democratic norms and to the unity of purpose of a Jewish state. Then came Oct. 7.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Conservative radio personality Sid Rosenberg, a vocal critic of JD Vance’s positions toward Israel, left a meeting with the vice president on Thursday giddy with optimism. “I went in there with very low expectations,” Rosenberg told the hosts of WABC Radio’s Cats & Cosby. Noting that multiple people had assured him Vance would win him over, Rosenberg confirmed that “he did.” “I think I charmed him more,” he said.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Robert Kraft has found himself in an unusual position: nixing the rapper Macklemore’s appearance at a stadium he owns for what he said was hateful behavior — and then taking up the performer’s charity challenge. Macklemore challenged the Jewish pro-Israel billionaire to make a donation in support of the Palestinians days after pressuring singer Ed Sheeran to drop Macklemore from his tour over the latter’s pro-Palestinian comments.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... A version of this piece first ran as part of the New York Jewish Week’s daily newsletter, rounding up the latest on politics, culture, food and what’s new with Jews in the city. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... NBA star Kyrie Irving said he would cover an $11,941 fine that the NFL imposed on Houston Texans Pro Bowl linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair for writing Hind Rajab, the name of a Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces, on his eyeblack during Sunday’s game.