(Corrects acronym in second paragraph)
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) -Europe will celebrate its first continent-wide Jewish LGBT+ Pride on Saturday against a backdrop of rising concern about anti-Semitism and homophobia in countries such as Hungary, Poland and Germany.
Organised by the European Union for Progressive Judaism (EUPJ), participants said a recent anti-LGBT+ law passed in Hungary underscored the need for EUPJ Pride Shabbat, which will be online-only due to coronavirus restrictions.
Hungarian lawmakers passed legislation last month banning the dissemination of content deemed to “promote or show gender change and homosexuality” to those under the age of 18.
“In certain places (across Europe) you often have religion being used to say that it is incompatible with LGBTI rights,” David Weis, president of the Liberal Jewish Community of Luxembourg, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Europe to hold first Jewish LGBT+ Pride with prayers and debate reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A group of pro-Israel Jews in their 20s and 30s assertively defend Zionism and Jews on social media, but critics across the political spectrum question the campaign's efficacy
Jewish Ledger
Van Morrison’s lyrical antisemitism
By Melissa Langsam Braunstein
(JNS) Van Morrison’s latest song comes complete with its own eyebrow-raising title: “They Own the Media.” But who exactly is “they”?
The song doesn’t specify, and Van Morrison hasn’t issued a public statement to clarify, in spite of numerous articles flagging the song’s antisemitic language. If we look back 16 years, though, it’s reasonable to think Morrison has Jews on the brain.
As
The Forward recently reminded readers, Morrison “denied back in 2005 that ‘They Sold Me Out,’ in which he sings in first-person from the perspective of Jesus, was antisemitic. That song includes the lyrics: ‘For a few shekels more, they didn’t even think twice/For a few shekels more, another minute in the spotlight’ ” and “Sold me out for a few shekels.”