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By JTA
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein accepted the endorsement of J Street's political action committee. Feinstein (D-Calif.) joins Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Rep. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) as Senate candidates who have received JStreetPAC’s endorsement for the 2012 election cycle. "Senator Feinstein joins a long and growing list of American politicians who recognize […]
By JTA
The repatriation of the bodies is being called a good-will gesture to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Included among them was Ramez Aslim, the suicide bomber who attacked a Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem in 2003. Dual Israeli-American citizens Dr. David Applebaum, and his daughter Nava, who was to have been married the day after the bombing, were killed in that attack.
By JTA
President Obama celebrated the values of communities petitioning government at a White House reception honoring Jewish American Heritage Month. "We don’t just celebrate all that American Jews have done for our country; we also look toward the future," he said. "And as we do, I know that those of you in this room, but folks […]
By JTA
The Israeli government will begin paying non-Orthodox rabbis and recognizing them as community leaders. The attorney general’s office advised the Supreme Court Tuesday that Reform and Conservative rabbis in some parts of Israel will be recognized as “rabbis of non-Orthodox communities” and will receive wages equal to those of their Orthodox counterparts. Only rabbis in […]
By JTA
Honeymooning Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his bride, Priscilla Chan, paid $40 for lunch at a Jewish restaurant in Rome’s historic ghetto but did not leave a tip, according to Italian media. Newspapers ran pictures of what they said was the billionaire couple’s bill at the Nonna Betta restaurant -- Jewish style artichokes and fried […]
By JTA
Polish officials called on President Obama to apologize for using the term "Polish death camps." While Holocaust historians say the record of Polish behavior during the Holocaust is vexed and contradictory.
By JTA
The body of an American tourist missing since last week was discovered near Beit Shean. A large-scale search was mounted over the weekend for the missing tourist. Herman Kuehn, 80, of Platte County, Missouri, was separated from his group on May 26, while visiting the antiquities sites in Beit Shean, in north eastern Israel. His […]
By JTA
The Cannes film festival screening of "The Anti-Semite," a film by an anti-Semitic French comic, was cancelled. The film by and starring Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala, was produced by the Iranian Documentary and Experimental Film Center. It reportedly pokes fun at the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, where an estimated 1.5 million Jews were murdered during the […]
By JTA
Evidence found in an underground bunker in Iran could signal the country’s having moved one step closer toward the uranium threshold needed to make nuclear arms, International Atomic Energy Agency diplomats said today. IAEA inspectors found traces of uranium enriched up to 27 percent at Iran's Fordo enrichment plant.
By JTA
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday decried violence against African migrants following a night of violent protest and promised the problem of African infiltrators would be solved. "There is no place for either the expressions or the actions that we witnessed last night," said Netanyahu one day after a demonstration in south Tel Aviv […]
By JTA
Israel's Arava Power Company has closed on financing for eight solar power projects worth $204 million. Arava, based in Kibbutz Ketura in southern Israel, will build five solar energy fields in the Negev. The company also will be building three solar projects in the kibbutz communities of Kerem Shalom, Mishmar HaNegev and Bror Hail. “We […]
By JTA
An Israeli-Arab immigrant to the United States was found guilty of murder in Michigan. Elias Abuelazam, 33, a Christian Arab from Ramla, was found guilty Tuesday in the stabbing death of Arnold Minor, 49. He was accused of killing three people during a series of killings and attacks in three U.S. states during the summer […]
By JTA
The 144-page indictment seeks 10 aggravated life jail sentences for each commander, including former Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, according to the English-language Turkish news service Today's Zaman, citing the Sabah daily.
By JTA
Mitt Romney is meeting with some 30 major Jewish donors to his presidential campaign as part of a "constituents day." The former Massachusetts governor and all-but-certain Republican nominee for president, will meet for about an hour with the donors in Boston on Thursday. A donor who was invited told JTA that the purpose of the […]
By JTA
A leader of Yemen's Jewish community was stabbed to death at a market in the capital of Sana'a. The victim, identified in media reports as Harun Yusuf or Aaron Joseph Zindani, 50, reportedly was stabbed in the neck and in the stomach. He died Tuesday. His Muslim assailant accused him of casting a spell on […]
By JTA
The Israeli band Izabo failed to advance to the Eurovision Song Competition final Tuesday night. Izabo performed the song "Time" on Tuesday in the first semifinal of the competition, held this year in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Israeli Broadcasting Authority had unilaterally selected the band in February to represent Israel in the competition. It marked the […]
By JTA
Orthodox conversions in Israel are down by 31 percent over the past two years, according to a new report. “Both demographic changes and bureaucratic hurdles have contributed to this change,” said Rabbi Seth Farber, director of ITIM: Resources and Advocacy for Jewish Life. The ITIM study, released on the eve of Shavuot, the holiday in […]
By JTA
Nothing suggests that Iran is ready to stop its nuclear weapons program, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ahead of talks between Iran and a U.S.-led negotiating coalition. "Nothing would be better than to see this issue resolved diplomatically," Netanyahu said Friday during a state visit to the Czech Republic. "But I have seen no evidence […]
By JTA
The Obama administration said it would rush $70 million to Israel in order to enhance its Iron Dome missile defense system, with more money in the pipeline. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said Thursday, after meeting with his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak, that he was directed by President Obama to meet Israel's needs for the […]
By JTA
A Toronto Islamic school has lost the right to use a public school building for its classes after anti-Semitic teachings were discovered in its curriculum and posted on its website. The Toronto District School Board announced this week that the East End Madrassah could no longer rent space for its Sunday classes until police finish […]
By JTA
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul has effectively given up his presidential campaign but will not give up his delegates to Mitt Romney. Paul, a Texas Republican, said he would no longer compete in his party's primaries, leaving Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, the only viable candidate for the GOP nod still running. Romney remains about 200 […]
By JTA
Supporters say he’s an innocent man caught up in the tentacles of a corrupt Latin American regime. Authorities in Bolivia allege he’s a shady businessman with ties to drug dealers and money launderers.
By JTA
A suburban New York father is suing his school district over the anti-Semitic taunting of his son. Robert Slade filed the suit last week alleging that officials at Northport High School on Long Island took no action to stop a group of 20 students from traumatizing his son with taunts such as “Jews are disgusting,” […]
By JTA
European Union foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels slammed Israel for threatening the viability of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Their three-page statement released Monday condemned the increased growth of settlement building, and the eviction of Palestinians and demolition of their homes in eastern Jerusalem. It also expressed concern over settler violence. […]
By JTA
The Greek neo-Nazi Golden Dawn Party, which won nearly seven percent of the vote in last week's elections, has had its official website taken down by host WordPress. "This blog has been archived or suspended for a violation of our Terms of Service," said a message from WordPress that replaced their homepage. The web page […]
By JTA
Israeli President Shimon Peres successfully underwent surgery to treat a hernia. Peres underwent the surgery on Friday at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer. Doctors say that the surgery was successful and that Peres is feeling well. The hernia was discovered in Peres’ abdomen during his recent state visit to Canada.
By JTA
Brooklyn’s district attorney has inflated the results of a program for combating child sexual abuse in the Haredi Orthodox community, a New York Times investigation concluded. The Kol Tzedek program was launched in 2009 by the district attorney’s office in order to combat sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s large Haredi community and encourage reporting of such […]
By JTA
Polish director Roman Polanski’s next film will be a political thriller based on the Dreyfus Affair. The acclaimed director announced Wednesday that the new film, titled "D," will reunite the team that produced his award-winning film "Ghost Writer."
By JTA
Celebrity hairstylist Vidal Sassoon, who was committed to fighting anti-Semitism and fought in Israel's War of Independence, has died. Sassoon died Wednesday in his Los Angeles home. He was 84. He had been battling leukemia, according to the Los Angeles Times. In 1982, he established the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism […]
By JTA
The United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012 passed by a vote of 411-2. In addition to expanding military cooperation between the two countries, the legislation states that it will be U.S. policy to provide Israel with essential military capabilities to preserve its qualitative military edge in the region.
By JTA
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton that Iran must agree to halt all uranium enrichment in upcoming talks. Ashton was in Jerusalem on Wednesday to brief Netanyahu in the run-up to the second round of nuclear talks with Iran scheduled for May 23 in Baghdad. Netanyahu also accused Iran […]
By JTA
Jewish reaction was mixed to the election of the Socialist Party’s Francois Hollande as the president of France while Jewish leaders in Greece expressed concern and disappointment after the fascist Golden Dawn party was poised to enter the Greek parliament for the first time.
By JTA
Reps. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) and Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday asked the General Accountability Office's comptroller general to probe what U.S. funding was being given to the Palestine Investment Fund and under what circumstances. Deutsch and Israel had co-signed a similar letter drafted last November. The signing of Lowey, the senior Democrat […]
By JTA
Two Congress members from Michigan at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs annual plenum stressed the importance of stopping a nuclear Iran and passing a bipartisan farm bill. Rep. Mike Rogers, the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, told plenum participants in Detroit on Monday that leaving the military option on the […]
By JTA
Jewish leaders in Greece expressed concern and disappointment after the fascist Golden Dawn party was poised to enter the Greek parliament for the first time. Speaking to a news conference on Sunday, Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos warned Greece's enemies – inside and outside the country – that they should be "very afraid." "We are […]
By JTA
Eliyahu Werdesheim, one of two Baltimore brothers charged with beating an African-American teenager, was found guilty by a circuit court. Werdesheim, a former member of Israeli special forces, was found guilty on charges of false imprisonment and second-degree assault, while his brother Avi was cleared of all charges in the beating of Corey Ausby in […]
By JTA
Adam Yauch of the seminal hip-hop group the Beastie Boys has died at the age of 47 after battling cancer. Yauch, one of three members of the seminal hip-hop group, had been diagnosed in 2009 with cancer in his parotid gland and a lymph node. The news of Yauch’s death was first reported Friday by […]
By JTA
Jewish Canadian-Egyptian businessman Raphael Bigio is seeking a full U.S. appeals court to rehear his lawsuit against Coca-Cola for using his family’s property in Egypt. Bigio and his family filed the brief Wednesday in the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. He is suing the Coca-Cola Company headquartered in the United States for […]
By JTA
Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who stirred controversy with remarks called anti-Semitic by the city's Jewish leaders, was trailing in a bid to reclaim his post, an exit poll showed. Incumbent Boris Johnson, Livingstone's successor, had 53 percent of Thursday's vote to 47 percent for Livingstone in the hotly contested race, according to the YouGov […]
By JTA
The International Olympic Committee apparently has rejected an online petition seeking a moment of silence for the Munich 11 at the 2012 London Olympics. Emmanuelle Moreau, the IOC's head of media relations, told The Jerusalem Post that the Games this summer would not have a moment of silence honoring the 11 Israeli athletes who were […]
By JTA
Soon after the Methodist Church had decided not to support divestments from Israel, Canada's largest Protestant denomination is calling for a boycott of goods produced in "illegal" Israeli settlements, including East Jerusalem. In a 26-page report released May 1, the United Church of Canada calls for an economic boycott of Israel focused exclusively on settlement […]
By JTA
A Baltimore judge will not drop the charges against two Jewish brothers accused of beating a black teenager. Judge Pamela White on Tuesday denied the motion to drop the charges against Avi and Eliyahu Werdesheim, according to The Associated Press. The brothers have pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree assault, false imprisonment and carrying […]
By JTA
The general conference of the United Methodist Church voted not to divest from three companies that trade with Israel. Two-thirds of the approximately 1,000 delegates to the conference voted Wednesday in Tampa, Fla., against a motion to divest from Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions and Hewlett-Packard. Divestment advocates claim that products manufactured by these companies are used […]
By JTA
The Likud Party, which leads the ruling coalition, has submitted a bill to dissolve the current Knesset and is pushing for new elections on Sept. 4.
By JTA
A university student in Scotland lost his appeal of a racism conviction for insulting a fellow student's Israeli flag. On Tuesday, a three-judge panel at the Court of Appeal in Edinburgh turned down Paul Donnachie, 19, in a bid to have his conviction overturned. Donnachie had been sentenced last August to 150 hours of community […]
By JTA
A Norwegian sociologist who pioneered the discipline of peace studies and conflict resolution made anti-Semitic and anti-Israel statements during a public lecture and in an article. Johan Galtung, called the "father of peace studies," also made anti-Semitic and anti-Israel remarks in an email interview with Haaretz. Galtung claimed that there is a possible connection between […]
By JTA
Israel's Foreign Ministry criticized as "absurd" the country's inclusion on a list of countries that restricts the activities of human rights and advocacy groups. Monday's response came after the United Nations' high commissioner for human rights placed Israel on a list that includes Egypt, Belarus, Venezuela, Algeria, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. Israel is the only democratic […]
By JTA
An artificial heart has been permanently implanted in a patient in Israel for the first time. Up until now, artificial hearts have been used in Israel to help a damaged heart continue to pump until a donor organ could be located. The operation on a 63-year-old cardiac patient, who was also in organ failure, occurred […]
By JTA
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel began building a security wall along its border with Lebanon. The work, which began Monday and is expected to last several weeks, is being carried out with the coordination of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, and the Lebanese army, according to reports. Its purpose, the Israel Defense Forces […]
By JTA
An Israeli teenager won the International Bible Contest in Jerusalem, with a New York teen finishing second. Elhanan Bloch was the best among the 56 competitors from 24 countries who competed Thursday, ahead of Akiva Abramovitz of Brooklyn. The Bible competition is held annually on Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel Independence Day. Bloch also took the religious […]
By JTA
Madeleine Albright, Bob Dylan, Shimon Peres and Jan Karski will be among 13 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The list was released Thursday. President Obama had previously announced that he was set to confer the medal on Peres, the Israeli president, and Karski, the late Polish resistance fighter who was among the first […]
By JTA
Lawyers for two Baltimore Jewish brothers accused of beating a black teenager withdrew a request to move the trial out of the city and requested a bench trial. The trial of Avi and Eliyahu Werdesheim will begin Wednesday morning in Baltimore Circuit Court before Judge Pamela White with no jury. Defense attorneys had requested a […]
By JTA
A Hebrew-language charter school was approved in Washington, DC, and is scheduled to open for the 2013-14 term. An Arabic-language charter school also under review was not approved by the charter school board. The Sela school, originally named the Washington DC Hebrew Language Public Charter School, was one of four new charter schools approved Monday […]
By JTA
Thousands of Christian and Jewish supporters of Israel have bombarded CBS executives with complaints about a "60 Minutes" segment that blamed Israel for the exodus of Christians from the West Bank and Jerusalem (See Video: A Well Crafted Piece of Propaganda Packed with Intentional Lies, Is It Sunday Already?). In the segment that aired Sunday, […]
By JTA
A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that a man can sue for enduring anti-Semitic slurs from former employers despite not being Jewish. Myron Cowher, a former truck driver for Carson & Roberts Site Constructions & Engineering Inc., sued the company and former supervisors after allegedly enduring anti-Semitic comments for more than a year. His […]
By JTA
Turkey blocked the participation of Israel in next month's NATO Summit in Chicago, a Turkish newspaper reported. Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vetoed Israel's participation during a NATO foreign ministers meeting last week in Brussels, the Hurriyet Daily News reported Monday. “There will be no Israeli presence at the NATO meeting unless they issue a […]
By JTA
President Obama will commemorate the Holocaust at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. Obama will speak at the museum on April 23, less than a week after the official Holocaust Remembrance Day. "He will give remarks commemorating the Holocaust and discuss how the United States is honoring the pledge of 'Never again' by developing […]
By JTA
A former school nurse at the Ramaz School in New York who says she was fired for reporting a possible case of child abuse can sue the school under the state's whistleblower law. The New York State Court of Appeals (which is that state's highest court) ruled on April 12 in a 3-2 vote that […]
By JTA
Jewish leaders in Hebron have called for international intervention to help the Palestinian man sentenced to death for selling a home near the Cave of the Patriarchs to Jews. Shahala reportedly was sentenced to death for his part in selling what has become known as the Machpela House to a group of Jews. He reportedly […]
By JTA
Jonathan Pollard was transferred from a federal hospital to his prison cell. Pollard, who reportedly was rushed to a hospital outside of the prison on the eve of Passover suffering from an unspecified emergency condition, was returned to Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina on Sunday, according to the Justice for Jonathan Pollard organization. […]
By JTA
Top U.S. Jewish organizations joined the call on President Obama to release Jonathan Pollard because of his reported illness. "A few months ago we visited Jonathan Pollard in prison and came away concerned about his health and the medical challenges he faced," said a letter sent this week to Obama from Richard Stone, the chairman […]
By JTA
In a letter to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, two congressmen said a medal awarded to veteran journalist Helen Thomas could hurt U.S. assistance to the PA. Reps. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), the chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, and Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) in their April […]
By JTA
Aharon Alexander Gorshonov, 25, the Jewish man who was attacked after he had left a seder at a synagogue in Kiev, will be flown to Israel for treatment. Gorshonov was found on Sunday night in an area near the synagogue where attacks by neo-Nazi groups have occurred in the past, nearly a full day after […]
By JTA
A Jewish man was attacked after he left a seder at a synagogue in Kiev. The man, 25, was found on Sunday night, nearly a full day after the attack, with serious head injuries believed to have been inflicted by glass bottles. He is in critical condition in a Kiev hospital. He also had bruises […]
By JTA
Hungarian Jewish leaders issued a strongly worded protest against a speech by a far-right lawmaker who claimed that Jews had been implicated in a notorious blood libel case in northern Hungary 130 years ago. In a five-minute speech before parliament Tuesday night, Zsolt Barath of the extreme-right Jobbik party cited the 1882 blood libel case […]
By JTA
Israeli President Shimon Peres met with the wife of Jonathan Pollard, who asked Peres to request her husband's release "before it is too late." Along with her came MK Uri Ariel (National Union) who delivered a petition for Pollard's release, signed by more than 80 Knesset members. Esther Pollard met with Peres in Jerusalem on […]
By JTA
Rutgers University is investigating a student-run satirical newspaper for publishing an article that praises Hitler and attributing it to a Jewish student. The Daily Medium, which receives university funding, published the false column "What About the Good Things Hitler Did?" in its April 4 edition and attributed it to Aaron Marcus. The university is investigating […]
By JTA
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will submit a plan to legalize several Judea and Samaria outposts and avoid the demolition of another. At Wednesday's Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said he asked Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to "find a solution" for the Ulpana neighborhood in Beit El "that would obviate the need for demolition." The […]
By JTA
The owners of Washington’s Jewish newspaper submitted the winning bid for The Baltimore Jewish Times at a bankruptcy auction. Route 95 Publications, LLC, an affiliate of the WJW Group that owns the Washington Jewish Week, said it won Monday's auction to purchase Alter Communications, the publisher of The Baltimore Jewish Times and Style Magazine. The […]
By JTA
Brandeis University students disrupted a panel discussion at a Boston-area synagogue featuring Israeli lawmakers and Jewish community leaders. The students, members of the Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine group, removed their shirts Monday night in Temple Emanuel in Newton, Mass., to uncover T-shirts that read "apartheid" in Hebrew. They also chanted "Free, free Palestine" […]
By JTA
Thousands silently demonstrated Monday evening in Paris to pay tribute to the four victims of a shooting attack at a Jewish school in southwestern France. A man riding a motorbike opened fire Monday morning outside the Ozar Hatorah School in Toulouse, where students were waiting to enter the building at the start of the school […]
By JTA
Super Tuesday Republican primaries were a race between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, Republicans selected a Jewish veteran for Ohio's Senate run, and Dennis Kucinich lost his bid for reelection. Ten states went to the polls Tuesday in what is the biggest election day of primary season.
By JTA
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The Florida House of Representatives passed legislation opposed by Jewish and Muslim groups that would ban the application of religious or foreign law in marriage, divorce or custody cases. The bill is one of a number around the country that has sought to limit the influence of Sharia, or Islamic law. The bill, […]
By JTA
(JTA) -- An Orthodox Jew was found not guilty by a Hague appeals court of failing to produce an ID card on the Sabbath. The man had faced a fine of nearly $200 for failing to prove his identity when requested to do so by police under a Dutch law. Orthodox Jews are not permitted to […]
By JTA
Israeli Defense Ministry: The test of a joint Israeli-American Arrow missile defense system "provides confidence in operational Israeli capabilities to defeat the developing ballistic missile threat."
By JTA
Heightened caution comes after a month of increasingly worrisome attacks against synagogues in Bergen County, an affluent part of New York City’s suburbs with a sizable Jewish population.
By JTA
The Obama administration added three companies to those sanctioned for dealing with Iran's energy sector, for the first time targeting a major Chinese Iran trader.
By JTA
An explosive thrown through the window of a New Jersey synagogue and residence is being treated as attempted murder, according to the prosecutor of Bergen County.
By JTA
Noam Shalit, fresh off his successful campaign to have his son, Gilad, freed in exchange for over a thousand Arab security prisoners, will attempt to win a Knesset seat with the Labor party.