Asaf Shalev

In this February 24, 2014, photo, WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum speaks during a conference at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

July 23, 2022, 4:26 am

WhatsApp founder Jan Koum donates record $2 million to AIPAC’s campaign efforts

Retired tech entrepreneur becomes largest individual donor to pro-Israel lobby as it supports candidates in Democratic primaries

By Asaf Shalev

Left to right: Mikhail Fridman (Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images), Petr Aven (Alexander Aleshkin/Epsilon/Getty Images ), Moshe Kantor (Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images), Roman Abramovich (Ian Walton/Getty Images) All images via JTA.

July 12, 2022, 7:52 am

With their planes grounded, Russia’s Jewish oligarchs see consequences of Putin ties

With no end in sight to invasion of Ukraine, effect of sanctions ripples through world of Jewish philanthropy

By MADELINE FIXLER and Asaf Shalev

Map of Jewish households in Los Angeles, according to the new population survey. (Courtesy of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles via JTA)

June 25, 2022, 5:59 am

Landmark survey of Jewish LA reveals an increasingly diverse and engaged community

First demographic survey in a generation shows younger Jews more likely than their elders to be engaged in Jewish life; community is second largest in US

By Asaf Shalev and Jackie Hajdenberg

Whatsapp founder Jan Koum has quietly donated tens of millions of dollars to Jewish organizations now involved in relief efforts in Eastern Europe. (Designed by Grace Yagel with images from Getty Images and Wikimedia Commons/ JTA)

June 18, 2022, 4:36 am

WhatsApp’s reclusive founder has quietly become a megadonor to Jewish causes

Ukrainian-born Jan Koum has gone almost unnoticed in the world of philanthropy, but tax returns reveal that the multi-billionaire is one of his coreligionists’ largest supporters

By Asaf Shalev

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, shakes hands with Russian businessman and billionaire God Nisanov in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, July 31, 2014. (Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images via JTA)

June 3, 2022, 9:13 am

Russian Jewish oligarch hit with US sanctions, loses WJC leadership roles

State Department calls real estate developer God Nisanov ‘one of the richest men in Europe and a close associate of several Russian officials’

By Asaf Shalev

Author and conspiracy theory expert Mike Rothschild (Courtesy/ via JTA)

June 1, 2022, 4:17 am

A conspiracy-debunking Rothschild is writing the book about Jewish space lasers

Professional mythbuster Mike Rothschild isn’t related to the well-known banking family, but he’s out to expose the antisemitic theories that, left unchecked, can lead to violence

By Asaf Shalev

Visitors look through books before Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to the library of the Schneerson family of Hasidic rabbis in the Jewish Museum in Moscow, June 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

May 21, 2022, 9:28 pm

In trying to seize Russian assets, the US is taking a page from Chabad

The Brooklyn-based Hasidic movement has tried to regain a grand rabbi’s treasured library from Russia for decades. After the Ukraine invasion, it may have the leverage it seeks

By Asaf Shalev

Filmmaker Jonas Mekas attends The Anthology Film Archives Benefit and Auction in New York City, March 2, 2017. (Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images for Anthology Film Archives/ via JTA)

May 20, 2022, 4:01 am

Historian says NY’s Jewish Museum sanitizes filmmaker’s WWII record in new exhibit

Godfather of US avant-garde film Jonas Mekas fled Lithuania in 1944 as the Nazis advanced, but Yale researcher Michael Casper believes the now-deceased artist misled about his past

By Asaf Shalev

Julia Milner and Yuri Milner attend the 2020 Breakthrough Prize Red Carpet at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, November 3, 2019. (Ian Tuttle/Getty Images for Breakthrough Prize via JTA)

April 29, 2022, 11:20 am

Russian Jewish billionaire to donate $100 million for Ukrainian refugee relief

Yuri Milner made billions in Silicon Valley with early support from the Kremlin, but has avoided Western sanctions and is now seeking to distance himself from Putin

By Asaf Shalev

Illustrative: A sticker with a swastika is seen in Anchorage, Alaska, on May 25, 2021. (Anchorage Police Department)

April 26, 2022, 6:22 pm

Antisemitic incidents in US spiked to record high in 2021, ADL reports

Jewish civil rights group also reports surge during Gaza fighting last May; CEO Greenblatt says political instability and polarization main causes for increase in cases

By Asaf Shalev

Dana Fisher is a professor of sociology and the director of the Program for Society and the Environment at the University of Maryland. (Courtesy of Fisher/JTA)

April 22, 2022, 9:44 am

From a Jewish sociologist, harsh truths on the efficacy of climate change protests

Prof. Dana Fisher examines how — and whether — ordinary people can make an impact on the global problem through activism

By Asaf Shalev

In this photo taken April 20, 2016, the famed Birds' Head Haggadah, a medieval copy of a text read around the Passover holiday table, is seen on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

April 16, 2022, 9:33 am

Heirs of man murdered by Nazis sue Israel Museum for rare medieval haggadah

Museum denies ‘The Birds’ Head Haggadah’ belongs to progeny of Ludwig Marum, arguing his daughter wanted it on display; family disputes claim

By Asaf Shalev

In August 2021, the American Sephardi Federation hosted a virtual discussion about the changes to Spain’s Sephardic citizenship program with the participation of Rob Lennick and Sara Koplik of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico, who are now engaged in a court battle. (Screenshot/ via JTA)

April 11, 2022, 5:37 am

New Mexico Jewish community fears ‘implosion’ amid harassment, mismanagement suits

Many fear the 3 lawsuits targeting the top brass at the Jewish Federation of New Mexico could hinder support to synagogues, Holocaust survivors, and youth and cultural programming

By Asaf Shalev

Clockwise from the top: Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum (Erik McGregor/ LightRocket via Getty Images), Rabbi Jill Jacobs (courtesy, Jill Jacobs), Rabbi Angela Buchdahl (Michael Brochstein/ SOPA Images/ LightRocket via Getty Images). Background: Demonstrators gather at the Damascus Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem with flags of Israel during the controversial Flag March, organized by Israeli right-wing nationalists on June 15, 2021. (Ilia Yefimovich/ picture alliance via Getty Images. All photos via JTA)

April 11, 2022, 3:09 am

Rabbis go public with plea to cut off US Jewish funding of Israeli extremists

After rebuff, 19 clergy publicize letter to donor-advised Jewish Communal Fund asking it to stop support to Lehava group associated with far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir

By Asaf Shalev

In this March 4, 2018, file photo, MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

March 24, 2022, 3:39 pm

MacKenzie Scott donates $10 million to HIAS for Ukrainian refugee aid

Jewish relief group says some of the billionaire philanthropist’s donation will go to help Ukrainian Jews move to Western Europe; Prince Harry, Meghan Markle give undisclosed sum

By Asaf Shalev