Luke Tress

Luke Tress is an editor and a reporter in New York for The Times of Israel.

Gilad Erdan, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, speaks during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, January 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

January 27, 2023, 7:52 pm

Israeli envoy: The UN, founded on the ashes of the Holocaust, is failing its purpose

Gilad Erdan says world body holds ‘heinous double standard’ against Jewish state, calls for action against officials who have made antisemitic statements

By Luke Tress

Israel's UN envoy Gilad Erdan, left, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, center, and Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan, right, view a Holocaust installation at the UN Headquarters in New York, January 26, 2023. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

January 27, 2023, 7:24 pm

In Holocaust Remembrance Day address, UN chief calls for curbs on online hate speech

Antonio Guterres compares today’s rhetoric to 1930s Germany, decries rising antisemitism, as world body caps series of events marking the Nazi genocide

By Luke Tress

Kiss frontman Gene Simmons at the United Nations in New York, January 26, 2023. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

January 27, 2023, 4:59 am

Kiss frontman Simmons wants to rock Holocaust memorials with Never Again concert

Music icon, whose mother survived Nazi death camps, says at ‘boring’ UN commemoration that Jewish community needs to get more groups involved in remembrance activities

By Luke Tress

A woman looks through the Book of Names at UN Headquarters in New York, January 24, 2023. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

January 25, 2023, 10:01 am

‘Book of Names’ listing all known Holocaust victims put on display at United Nations

Yad Vashem installation marking Holocaust remembrance day contains personal information of 4.8 million people killed by Nazis, blank pages symbolizing another 1.2 million

By Luke Tress

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese addresses the UN, October 2022. (Screenshot/YouTube, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

January 24, 2023, 9:45 pm

Congress members urge removal of UN official for antisemitism exposed by ToI

11 House representatives call on UN chief to oust Palestinian rights official Francesca Albanese for comments, saying her anti-Jewish bias ‘undermines credibility’

By Luke Tress

Illustrative: 5-mg pills of Oxycodone, June 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

January 24, 2023, 8:44 pm

Symposium aims to tackle addiction, stigma in US Jewish communities

Two-day online event includes Narcan training, discussions on recovery, role of Judaism in treatment, as tens of millions of Americans grapple with drugs and overdose deaths soar

By Luke Tress

Illustrative: A single-engine Beechcraft Bonanzi aircraft. (Wesley Moolman, public domain)

January 20, 2023, 9:47 am

2 Jewish men killed in New York private plane crash

Single-engine aircraft goes down in stormy weather north of New York City; pilot, passenger were members of Cleveland Jewish community

By Luke Tress

Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch's executive director, speaks during a news conference in Seoul, South Korea, on November 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

January 19, 2023, 9:36 pm

Harvard reinstates offer to ex-Human Rights Watch chief after Israel controversy

University says it was an ‘error’ to rescind position from Kenneth Roth, allegedly over anti-Israel criticism, but denies claims donor influence and politics motivated move

By Luke Tress

Illustrative: Hayashi Yoshimasa, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, chairs a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters in New York, January 12, 2023. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

January 19, 2023, 2:25 am

Israeli, Palestinian envoys trade jabs at UN as official warns of ‘collision course’

Israel’s Erdan blasts ICJ probe as ‘war of multilateral terror,’ while Riyad Mansour says retaliatory measures by Jerusalem ‘strike at heart’ of world order

By Luke Tress

A mobile billboard hired by Accuracy in Media accusing Berkeley student leaders of antisemitism, in Texas. (Courtesy/Accuracy in Media)

January 19, 2023, 1:34 am

US group dispatches mobile ‘antisemite’ billboards to homes of anti-Israel students

Provocative political outfit Accuracy in Media targets neighborhoods of Berkeley Law School organizers whose groups banned Zionist speakers, sparking uproar

By Luke Tress

The UN General Assembly Fourth Committee votes on measures addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at UN headquarters in New York, November 11, 2022. (AP/Jeenah Moon)

January 17, 2023, 3:54 am

Over 90 countries urge Israel to lift sanctions put on Palestinians after UN vote

Germany, France, Japan sign onto PA letter expressing concern over ‘punitive measures’ enacted in response to call for world court ruling on conflict

By Luke Tress

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, left, speaks alongside Hayashi Yoshimasa, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, during a Security Council meeting, January 12, 2023, at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

January 12, 2023, 9:25 pm

UN secretary-general says settlements drive conflict, slams ‘unilateral initiatives’

At Security Council, Antonio Guterres cites Israel alongside Russia, North Korea, Afghanistan and Myanmar, condemns violence on both sides

By Luke Tress

Illustrative: A Yeshiva University building in New York City, January 13, 2022. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

January 12, 2023, 2:06 am

NY officials: Yeshiva U must explain public funds as it won’t recognize LGBTQ group

State lawmakers say university may have misled agency to get over $230 million earmarked for non-religious purposes while claiming religious protections to reject campus Pride club

By Luke Tress

Talia Avrahami, a transgender woman who left her position at a Brooklyn yeshiva, after a controversy over her identity. (Courtesy)

January 11, 2023, 1:05 am

Transgender woman pushed out of YU-linked synagogue after uproar over day school job

Talia Avrahami leaves Shenk Shul following controversy over her employment at Brooklyn’s Magen David Yeshivah, which is also accused of discriminating against 2nd transgender woman

By Luke Tress

Illustrative: Police and community safety vehicles at a Jewish event in Brooklyn, New York City, May 19, 2022. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

January 10, 2023, 6:04 am

Police data shows antisemitic incidents in NYC more than doubled over last 2 years

City saw 263 attacks in 2022, or one every 33 hours on average; $11,000 offered for info on suspect who shouted ‘Kanye 2024’ during assault; Hasidic man rammed with car in Brooklyn

By Luke Tress