Buckingham Palace guard banned from Royal Wedding for anti-Semitic comment

The Huffington Post reported this morning that Buckingham Palace guard Cameron Reilly has been relieved of his duties for the Royal Wedding™ this Friday because of racist and anti-Semitic comments he made on his Facebook page - oh, and also for calling future queen Kate Middleton a "posh [rhymes with witch]."

According to HuffPo, the 18-year-old Reilly wrote, among other unsavory things, that he was "watchin a massive jew gathering outside…

Marla Gilson got sick. Then she got fired.

Marla Gilson of Chevy Chase, Md., is a longtime Jewish community advocate who has given her career to helping the sick, elderly and poor.

How is she repaid for her tireless work? By being fired when she herself is faced with a deadly illness.

Gilson actually is quite lucky. Diagnosed with leukemia in January, she quickly found a bone marrow match, something many leukemia patients never find. (Most Jews who lived in the Washington area in the late '80s remember…

Royal Wedding Watch 2011 - Jewish Edition

The ketubah created for Prince William and Kate Middleton is displayed.

The world is atwitter over the upcoming royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton (who, j. reported back in November, is not Jewish). The wedding is scheduled for April 29 - three days after the end of Passover, which is good news for Jews who, like me, enjoy preparing theme meals…

Designer John Galliano’s anti-Semitic rant

(photo by interview magazine/jen atkin)

Odd bird designer John Galliano is in for a world of haute couture backlash following an anti-Semitic and racist rant during a fight at Marais cafe La Perle, Interview Magazine reports.

As a direct result of the insulting language, Christian Dior suspended Galliano, who has been with the fashion house since 1996. Dior CEO Sidney Toldano invoked Dior's policy of "zero tolerance...towards any anti-Semitic or racist…

The problem with Birthright Israel

We've all heard the accolades for Birthright Israel: young adults who take the free 10-day trip to Israel come back jazzed about the Jewish state, are more likely to engage in Jewish life post-trip and are more likely to marry Jews.

We've also heard about the controversy: that Birthright is just propaganda for Israeli policies, that it doesn't screen its applicants well enough and ends up with the occasional messianic "Jew" or Palestinian activist, etc.

But in an…

BREAKING HUMMUS NEWS

It's back! Or, it never went anywhere.

Yes, there is breaking hummus news.

First story: The Princeton Sabra kerfuffle. AP is reporting that the referendum calling for the school to offer an alternative to Sabra hummus (which the Princeton Committee for Palestine says tramples on the rights of Palestinians because it's partially owned by pro-IDF company the Strauss Group) has been voted down by students.…

Kiwi Jews, rejoice: New Zealand will allow kosher slaughter

A New Zealand sheep that may or may not be kosherly slaughtered. (photo/rachel leibold)

Being a pescetarian, I'm not a fan of animal slaughter - kosher or otherwise - but I was heartened to read in JTA that an agreement was reached with New Zealand's Minister of Agriculture to allow kosher slaughter of poultry in the island nation. (Lamb, a staple of Kiwi culture, is…

Kate Middleton: Jewish or not?

Future (Jewish?) royal Kate Middleton (photo courtesy of celebgalz.com)

Is Kate Middleton Jewish?

I was intrigued to learn that the future princess' mother was born Carole Goldsmith. Could Prince William possibly be marrying an MOT - and how would that sit with the House of Windsor?

Technically, according to Slate magazine, royals can only be removed from the line of succession if they marry a…

Judd Apatow & friends for AJWS

You can file this under: super weird celebrity mashups for charity. Hilarious writer/filmmaker Judd Apatow gathered up some famous friends to make this video celebrating American Jewish World Services.

While the video, featuring the likes of Sarah Silverman and Lindsey Lohan, is superfunny, those readers with aversions to saucy language and subject matter may want to avoid it. For those of us who enjoy the crude, watch on. The PSA premiered at AJWS's 25th anniversary celebration on October 28, 2010.

So long to the Anne Frank tree

The dying Anne Frank Tree. (photo by huliana90212)

You may recall that the tree was deemed a safety hazard in 2007 and ordered cut down (it suffered from fungus…