Your Daily Spiel for August 23

Samantha Ravich at the Strata Conference (YouTube screenshot)

Good news! Two programs that were offered by Act to End Violence Against Women – the Toronto Jewish community’s sole agency providing a full range of services for women and children who have experienced domestic violence, which announced recently that it is closing due to lack of funds – have been rescued. The Toronto branch of the National Council of Jewish Women of Canada will assume operations of Act to End Violence’s Jewish Legal Information and Support program – which helped women navigate Ontario’s legal system by provided legal support workers, education, referrals to lawyers and other resources – and the Shalom Task Force, a hotline that provides referrals.

U.S. President Donald Trump has named a Jewish national security expert, Samantha Ravich, as the new deputy chairwoman of the intelligence advisory board. Ravich, a former deputy national security adviser to vice-president Dick Cheney, is a senior adviser to the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, an influential pro-Israel think tank.

A new trailer has been released for Outlaw King, starring the proudly Jewish British actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson. The Netflix film will open the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival before coming to the streaming service on Nov. 9.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived in Lithuania ahead of the Baltic summit through which he said he hoped to deepen ties with eastern European nations to counter the EU’s “not always friendly” relations with Israel. “I want to achieve a balance in the European Union’s not always friendly relations with Israel in order to maintain fairer relations,” Netanyahu said before boarding the plane for the first-ever visit by an Israeli premier to Lithuania.