News

Australian-Israeli Relations on the Brink

Australian-Israeli Relations on the Brink

by Geoff Vasil

The Australian media, former Australian ambassador to Australia Dave Sharma, Jewish community leader Alex Ryvchin and a series of Australian politicians on both sides of the aisle are saying Israeli-Australian relations are at an all-time low.

This followed a tweet by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling Australian PM Anthony Albanese a weak leader who has failed to protect Australian Jews.

Albanese appeared to brush off the criticism and told the press he tries to deal with international leaders respectfully.

Shortly after a letter Netanyahu had sent Albanese several days earlier leaked in the media. The letter accused Albo of pouring fuel on the fire of anti-Semitism in Australia and called him a coward in so many words for appeasing Hamas with recognition of Palestinian statehood.

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Cvi Park Israeli Street Food Kiosk to Hold Musical Picnic with Free Pizza

Cvi Park Israeli Street Food Kiosk to Hold Musical Picnic with Free Pizza

Cvi Park was chosen as a pop0-up location for the Augalyn series of vegetarian picnics and food samplings. Rumor has it Cvi will be offering gree pizza at the event. Organizers are also promising musical accompaniment. It all happens this Friday, August 22, at the park across the street from the Lithuanian Jewish Community at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius, starting at 4:00 P.M.

More information available here.

Trump Sanctions ICC Officials for Targeting Americans, Israelis

Trump Sanctions ICC Officials for Targeting Americans, Israelis

by Rachel Wolf, FOX News, August 20, 2025

Four additional International Criminal Court (ICC) officials are facing U.S. sanctions over actions targeting Americans and Israelis. The State Department cited president Donald Trump’s executive order titled “Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court” as its reasoning for issuing the sanctions.

Those named are ICC judge Kimberly Prost (Canada), ICC jJudge Nicolas Yann Guillou (France) and ICC deputy prosecutors Nazhat Shameem Khan (Fiji) and Mame Mandiaye Niang (Senegal).

“These individuals are foreign persons who directly engaged in efforts by the International Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of either nation,” secretary of state Marco Rubio said in a statement.

Full story here.

Snapshots from the Journey the Kaunas Jewish Community Made to Germany

Snapshots from the Journey the Kaunas Jewish Community Made to Germany

A delegation from the Kaunas Jewish Community recently returned from a trip to Germany where they visited Dachau and other sites. Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Žakas Gercas’s uncle and father were imprisoned at Dachau.

The delegation also visited Wrocłaq in Poland, two castles in Germanym the city of Munich, the quaint town of Regensburg.and Nürnberg (Nuremberg). They stopped in Krempną in Poland on the way home.

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Makabi Summer Sporting Event on Sunday

Makabi Summer Sporting Event on Sunday

The Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club invites you to come participate in light competition at the swimming hole in the Žirmūnai neighborhood in Vilnius August 24. Members, friends and anyone who wants will play volleyball, basketball, chess, disc golf, spike ball and a Makabi Challenge tournament with lots of other diversions. The event will conclude with a picnic. This is an all ages event. Attendance is free and open to everyone but space is limited. Register here.

Time: 11:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M., Sunday, August 24
Place: https://maps.app.goo.gl/3UeyRQoUpanKpW2U7

Natalja Cheifec on the Holy Land, Part 3

Natalja Cheifec on the Holy Land, Part 3

Natalja Cheifec continues here discussion of the Holy Land and its people in a third installment as part of her internet discussion club Thursday. To receive zoom credentials, click here.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, August 21
Place: internet

School House on Great Synagogue Site to be Demolished

School House on Great Synagogue Site to be Demolished

The Vilnius news website madeinvilnius.lt reports work to remove a brick building, a former school, above the subterranean remains of the Great Synagogue in Vilnius is set to begin August 18. The city municipality says the removal is necessary to both provide access to and protect the archaeological site which includes the Great Synagogue and adjacent mikvot.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 8:51 P.M. on Friday, August 15, and concludes at 9:81 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 8:33 P.M. and completed before sunset at 8:51 P.M. Friday is VJ Day, this year marking 80 years since the Allies forced the unconditional surrender of the fascist Empire of Japan (August 15 in the eastern USSR, China and Australia, August 14 in the United States. September 2 is also celebrated as VJ Day marking the formal surrender tjrpigh the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender by the Japanese foreign minister representing emperor Hirohito and the “Big Six” powers on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay)..

Kill Jews, Get Your Own State

Kill Jews, Get Your Own State

Wall Street Journal, August 7, 2025

A Hamas leader says new global recognition for Palestinian statehood is a reward for the October 7 massacre.

The leaders of France, Canada and the United Kingdom think they’re doing a good deed by saying they’ll soon recognize a state of Palestine at the United Nations. Maybe they should listen to the response from Hamas, which thinks this recognition is a reward for slaughtering Jews.

That’s the only way to interpret comments Saturday by Hamas Politburo member Ghazi Hamad on Al Jazeera. “The powerful blow that was delivered to Israel on October 7 has yielded three very important historic achievements. First of all, it brought the Palestinian cause back. Why are all these countries recognizing Palestine now?” he asked. Good question. “The overall outcome of October 7,” Mr. Hamad continued, “forced the world to open its eyes to the Palestinian cause, and to act forcefully in this respect.” Massacre as a political strategy has long been Hamas practice, but it’s still remarkable to hear it stated with such unvarnished aplomb.

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The Enemy Within: The Treacherous “As a Jew” Jews

The Enemy Within: The Treacherous “As a Jew” Jews

by Grant Gochin, August 11, 2025

For three decades, my soul has roared with an unquenchable fire, forged in the crucible of my family’s slaughter in Lithuania. No polished diploma adorns my walls–my education was ripped from the smoldering ruins of personal tragedy and honed in the blood-soaked trenches of diplomacy across Africa’s most perilous corners. This is no academic sermon; it’s a primal scream, carved from scars, seething rage and an ironclad vow to never let genocide’s shadow fall on my people again. The ancient blood libel–that vile lie blaming all Jews for the crimes of none, or sometimes, possibly, a few, a grotesque slander conjured from thin air to vilify our people without a shred of truth–has been resurrected by traitors who wield their Jewish identity like a blade to disembowel our nation. These are the “As a Jew” Jews, a festering betrayal we must rip out root and branch.

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Israeli President and Wife Visit Lithuanian Jewish Community

Israeli President and Wife Visit Lithuanian Jewish Community

“I am a proud Litvak,” Israeli president Isaac Herzog told an audience of LJC members and students from the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius Monday last week.

He and wife Michal watched a performance by younger students from the school and the president fielded questions from students afterwards.

“Jews have been living in Lithuania 600 years now. This is our home, our gomeland, while Israel is our historical homeland which we support and always weill,” Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky told the assembly.

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Launch of Davidas Geringas’s Book “Just Don’t Tell Anyone”

Launch of Davidas Geringas’s Book “Just Don’t Tell Anyone”

A book of interviews with Lithuanian cellist Davidas Geringas written by musical journalist Jan Brachmann is now abailable in Lithuanian and will be presented Monday, August 11. The book is called “Tik Niekam Nesakyk” [Just Don’t Tell Anyone] and tells the story of Geringas’s persecution by Soviet security structures and his family’s experience as Jews in Soviet Lithuania, along with Geringas’s meetings with remarkable people and his support for Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenytsin. The book was previously translated into German and Italian.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Monday, August 11
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 9:06 P.M. on Friday, August 8, and concludes at 10:09 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 8:48 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:06 P.M.

Natalja Cheifec on the Promised Land

Natalja Cheifec on the Promised Land

Natalja Cheifec continues her internet discussion club, this time discussing the Promised Land and its people. To receive zoom credentials to listen to and contribute to the discussion, click here.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, August 7
Place: internet

Israeli President Isaac Herzog Visits Lithuania

Israeli President Isaac Herzog Visits Lithuania

Israeli president Isaac Herzog visited Vilnius Monday and met with Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda at the Office of President, held a joint press conference with the Lithuanian president and attended a business forum event. President Herzog also met with the Lithuanian Jewish Community at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius earlier Monday morning.

Lithuanian television news channels reported the visit but focused on protests outside the Office of President and Government House instead.

The major evening news outlets included three points from the press conference:

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Neoklezmer from Israel: Gefilte Drive Concert

Neoklezmer from Israel: Gefilte Drive Concert

The neoklzmer group Gefilte Drive from Israel will perform a concert in Vilnius next week. Cost of tickets starts at €35. Tickets are available here.

Description from the ticket vendor:

A neoklezmer band blending East and West, kosher rock’n’roll and Odessa-style romance. Songs in Yiddish, Russian, English and even backyard Odessa hits translated into Hebrew. It’s the music of our grandparents, reimagined through the lens of modern sound and heartfelt expression.

Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GefilteDrive

Time: 7:00 P.M., Friday, August 15
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius

Zimbabwe and Gaza

Zimbabwe and Gaza

by Grant Gochin, July 31, 2025

As a 16-year-old South African in 1980, I watched Zimbabwe’s “liberation” unfold on television–a moment seared into my memory. The Rhodesian flag fell, the Zimbabwean flag rose, and the haunting strains of “Auld Lang Syne” marked the end of colonial rule. Those notes still pull me back to that fleeting hope for a better future. But let’s be brutally honest–hope was a cruel illusion.

The world cheered as Rhodesia’s white regime fell under global pressure. The cause was righteous: equality was non-negotiable. But the world ignored the *day after.* Independence’s euphoria drowned out any thought of governance or stability. Rhodesia’s economy, though prosperous for a few, had thrived on systemic inequality. Yet post-independence Zimbabwe became a husk of poverty, starvation and tyranny. Equal rights? No: equal suffering for all.

Zimbabwe’s collapse is a glaring warning for any conflict where ideals outpace pragmatism, especially in the Israeli-Palestinian quagmire. Critics, including feeble Western governments, hound Israeli prime minister Netanyahu for not presenting a tidy post-war plan for Gaza while rockets rain down. Meanwhile, activists chant “from the river to the sea,” a call for Israel’s annihilation which ignores the consequences. Sound familiar? It’s Zimbabwe 2.0–glory in the cause, deliberate obfuscation for the ignorant masses.

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Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 9:20 P.M. on Friday, August 1, and concludes at 10:27 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:02 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:20 P.M. Sunday is Tisha b’Av with the 24-hour fast beginning at sundown on Saturday and ending when stars appear Sunday evening. Friday is also the Christian harvest festival Lammas.

Reflections of Vilnius in Buenos Aires: The YIVO Institute in Argentina

Reflections of Vilnius in Buenos Aires: The YIVO Institute in Argentina

The Lithuanian National Martynas Mažvydas Library continues celebrations the 10tth anniversary of teh founding of the YIVO Jewish research institute in Vilnius with a lecture by Silvia Hansman titled “Reflections of Vilnius in Buenos Aires: The YIVO Institute in Argentina” next week,

Silvia Hansman is director of the lesser-known YIVO chapter in Buenos Aires. She’s an historian, translator of Yiddish manuscrupts and archivist with 30 years experience leading archival research projects in the USA and Argentina.

The YIVO chapter was founded in Buenos Aires at the same time the headquarters in Vilnius and chapters in Berlin and New York were founded, back in 1925.

The lecture is free and open to the public, and will be in English. For more information in Lithuanian, click here.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, August 7
Place: Second floor, National Library, Gedimino prospect no. 51 Vilnius