Your Daily Spiel is The CJN’s (almost) daily roundup of trending stories in the Jewish world.
Canada
Journalistic Malpractice: The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) appealed to the Canadian government to grant asylum to Neda Amin. Amin, an Iranian-born blogger for the Times of Israel‘s Persian website, was threatened with deportation from Turkey to Iran.
United States
Allen Visits Auschwitz: Ray Allen, the legendary NBA shooting guard and two-time champ, recently visited the Polish concentration camp. Of the experience, Allen said: “I understand that there are plenty of issues in our own country right now, but they were looking at my trip the wrong way. I didn’t go to Poland as a black person, a white person, a Christian person or a Jewish person – I went as a human being.”
READ: Q&A WITH DANNY DANON, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS
Arts & Culture
Madonna Mourns: The pop star joined Jews around the world in grieving the destruction of the holy temples in Jerusalem. She tweeted a photo of herself writing “9th of Av. This is a Day to stay inside. lay low. Keep Quiet”.
9th of Av. ??This is a Day to stay inside. ???lay low. ⛱ Keep Quiet? ??. pic.twitter.com/lGSBn4wA55
— Madonna (@Madonna) July 31, 2017
Israel
Netanyahu No-No: A former Netanyahu aide has become a state witness in a corruption probe into the Israeli prime minister. Netanyahu’s office calls the probe a “witch hunt.”
Africa
Friendly Firsts: Two Muslim majority African countries – Senegal and Guinea – sent their first-ever envoys to Israel, thus upgrading diplomatic ties.
Song of the Day
Counting the Days: Enjoy the long weekend with Counting Crows and their mellow rendition of Big Yellow Taxi. The group is fronted by charismatic American Jewish musician Adam Duritz.