By JTA
A correspondent for the Financial Times apologized for suggesting that Israel may have bribed Bulgaria to framed Hizbullah. “Sincere apologies and regret for ill-conceived tweet yesterday about Israel and Bulgaria,” Borzou Daragahi, the London-based newspaper's Middle East and North Africa correspondent, wrote Wednesday on Twitter. The previous day Daragahi had tweeted, “I don't doubt Hezbollah/Iran […]
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has found a true partner in Cairo, where he thanked Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday for his support to win United Nations General Assembly approval to recognize the PA as a non-member observer state. Abbas did not miss the opportunity to flatter, or at least to try to flatter, […]
GOP Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin previously has likened Gov. Andrew Cuomo to Julius Caesar. Today he compared him with Hitler and quickly apologized – after the damage, mostly to himself, was done.
JERUSALEM – According to Israel’s Channel 2 News, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid told some of his close political confidants this week that if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not accede to nearly all of Yesh Atid’s demands, the party will refuse to join the new government coalition and will actively seek new elections within eighteen months with the goal of replacing Netanyahu.
Palestinian Authority TV, is ramping up incitement to kill Jews by re-broadcasting a year-old music video praising terrorists for murdering more than 100 Israeli civilians, with dubbing by PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The terrorists are serving lengthy jail sentences, some of them multiple life terms. Abbas last year added the release of all Palestinian Authority […]
By JTA
The Orthodox Union board reportedly has opted for a consensus candidate, Martin Nachimson, to avert a showdown over its presidency. Nachimson, a senior vice president at the organization best known for running the largest kosher certifying operation in the world, is expected to be elected when the board meets next month in New York, The […]
The increasingly tense northern border with Lebanon has prompted the IDF to order civilian aircraft to avoid using the Haifa air strip. "Security needs relating to the air space in the area have been addressed,” reads a terse military statement. Israel has conducted several mock raids and surveillance flights in Lebanon the past week, and […]
By dvora
Koch had recently left City Hall after 12 years as mayor of New York City and was touring Jerusalem when a Palestinian threw a rock at his group, striking Koch in the head. The ex-mayor was bleeding a bit but wasn’t really hurt, and he mopped up the wound with his handkerchief. The incident would become one of Koch’s favorite stories, the moment, he would say, when “I shed a little blood for the people of Israel.”
Israel is mourning the passing of former Justice and Israeli Prize laureate Menachem Elon, who died early Wednesday at the age of 89 and was buried in the afternoon in Jerusalem. One of his four children is national religious Rabbi Mordechai Elon. Justice Elon served in the Supreme Court for 16 years, until 1993. During […]
The frustration of having to think about the mail that is delivered on the Sabbath, but which cannot be opened by Jews because of the Torah prohibition of tearing, is about to come to an end. The U.S. Postal Service announced Wednesday that it will stop delivering mail on Saturday in August, but obviously not […]
By JTA
Two separate groups of French thugs mugged a young Jewish man wearing a Star of David, and a knife-wielding Muslim woman was arrested at the same Toulouse school where a terrorist killed four Jews last year. The woman was arrested, but the daylight attackers of Jewish man in Marseille fled after stealing an MP3 player […]
A government-appointed commission investigating the 2010 Mavi Mamara flotilla clash suggested on Wednesday that “the buck stops here” law should apply to IDF officers who are found responsible for any illegal orders that soldiers carry out. Military courts previously have found some soldiers for illegal actions during the Operation Cast Lead counter-terrorist campaign four years […]
For many of these women, urinating can take up to 30 minutes, and is very painful.
Israel has deployed a third Iron Dome missile defense system in the north, shortly after the IDF air strike near the border between Syria and Lebanon, AFP reports. "The deployment of several Iron Dome batteries in the north of the country comes as part of the setting up of the system," an IDF spokesperson said. […]
By JTA
IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz was awarded the Legion of Merit by the United States for meritorious military service. Gantz accepted the award on Tuesday during his five-day visit to the United States at the invitation of his U.S. counterpart, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey. On behalf of President Obama, […]
Ashton signalled that the EU will take its time "assessing" and "discussing" before taking any formal action.
On Tuesday, Democratic Jewish Congressman from Lower Manhattan Jerrold Nadler, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, led a bipartisan coalition of congressional champions of immigration reform and civil rights in re-introducing the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), including Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Richard Hanna (R-NY), Luis […]
Netanyahu chose an Israeli satirist as his double for Facebook’s annual Doppelganger week. If Yair Lapid would double as Rabbi Lau and Bennett as Obama, Israel would be ready for Moshiach.
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood regime is making Hosni Mubarak look like a peacenik. Police tortured to death two activists, others are “missing,” but the US is politely “disturbed” at its Muslim ally.
The Mars rover Curiosity, whose Israel-made cryogenic cooler preserves on-board detectors, has dug into rock and is set to try drilling one inch deep. An arm-mounted drill will try to rotate into Martian rock after having tapped not over the weekend, delighting geologists as the mission tries to provide information that might indicate that life […]
Brooklyn College has stood by its decision to co-sponsor an event featuring speakers in favor of an academic boycott of Israel because of the presence of Jews in Judea and Samaria, but the college added it would host similar events that present opposing views. Karen L. Gould, the president of BrooklynCollege, said in a statement, […]
By JTA
Secretary of State John Kerry, fresh off his confirmation, spoke with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Also over the weekend, two top State Department officials dealing with Iran's nuclear threat said they would be stopping in Israel during overseas visits, and IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, was visiting Chairman of the Joint […]
Civil rights lawyers are not buying the New York Police Department’s claim that surveillance of Muslims helps fight terrorism, and they have filed suit in a federal court to seek an order to end the practice. The lawyers claim that a 1985 agreement restricts surveillance of Muslims in mosques as well as in restaurants and […]
The 19th Knesset opens Tuesday with new blood and totally different faces that may change Israel’s wildest tragic-comedy show into a more serious parliament. More than one third of the Knesset is comprised of new legislators, the most prominent being Naftali Bennett, leader of Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home), and Yair Lapid, chairman of the Future […]
A major orthodox Jewish New York developer wants to open up a new Jewish Lower East Side kosher restaurant to replace the old Schildkraut Vegetarian Restaurant at 171 East Broadway. Michael Bolla’s business partner Ron Castellano has spent $1.5 million to restore the building and is looking for an investor-partner to operate the new kosher […]
By JTA
New York City will rename a subway station in memory of Edward Koch, the three-term mayor who died last week. U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) will announce Monday that the station at East 77th Street and Lexington Avenue will be renamed the Mayor Ed Koch Subway Station, the Associated Press reported. Koch represented the “Silk […]
Sen. John McCain has tweeted what every rational journalist wanted to write Monday: “So Ahmadinejad wants to be first Iranian in space - wasn't he just there last week?” McCain was referring to Iran’s dubious claim that it sent a monkey into space, but the noble values of a fellow Republican Congressman, an Arab-American, prompted […]
He explained at the time that he could not bear the idea that his body would have to leave New York City. "This is my home, the idea of having to go to New Jersey was so distressing to me."
A mechina is based on traditional Torah learning, but it also dedicates a significant chunk of its curriculum to developing Torah-based leadership skills and real-life tools outside of the classroom
By JTA
A British judge reportedly has accepted a U.S. rabbinical court’s ruling in a dispute between a haredi Orthodox man and his ex-wife.
By JTA
Some 100 imams will commemorate the Holocaust at a memorial monument near Paris. Monday's event is planned for Drancy, a suburb of the French capital where tens of thousands of Jews were confined in 1942 before being transported to extermination camps during the German Nazi occupation, according to a report in the French daily Le Figaro. The paper called […]
German Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller is in hot water with German politicians for stating that "targeted discrimination campaigns" against Catholic church positions on ordination of women and of homosexual relationships sometimes reminded him of a "pogrom sentiment." "Targeted discreditation campaigns against the Catholic Church in North America and also here in Europe have led to […]
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is ready to Iran’s first human astronaut, according to his regime’s official media outlet, only two days after Western media cast doubt on whether Iran actually sent a monkey into space, as it claimed. The Islamic Republic News Agency, quoted by the Associated Press, said that Ahmadinejad is willing to sacrifice […]
The Palestinian Authority’s senior negotiator has responded to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s call for a resumption of peace talks by saying that to do so would be “lunacy.” Saeb Erekat plainly stated that “negotiations” really means “obligations,” meaning that Israel must agree to stop building for Jews in half of Jerusalem as well as in Judea […]
Dubai Police Chief has recently attempted to discredit the Brotherhood by alleging a nefarious allegiance to Israel and Jews.
By JTA
The Jewish community of Warsaw is advancing plans to demolish one of its historical, ghetto-era buildings in favor of new offices that would replace the White House on Twarda Street with a 20-story building. A new center could accommodate more members during celebrations and on weekends for the community, which has tripled in size since […]
Assad’s propaganda machine has dreamed up a novel twist to get out of looking weak by not retaliating against Israel. Actually it was Israel that retaliated against Assad’s victories over “Zionist rebels.” “It was the Israeli enemy that was retaliating” by bombing Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles headed for Hizbullah, according to Syria’s government-controlled television, which interviewed […]
Israel police caught an Arab who fled the scene after he tried to stab a Haredi Jew near Mea Shearim late Monday morning. The victim was not injured. The suspect had fled, but police caught up with him and are questioning him. Police said the attempted knifing was most likely a terrorist attack, but they […]
Ed Koch will be honored at his funeral by former President Bill Clinton and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. At the service Monday morning, NY time, at Manhattan's Reform Temple Emanu-El, the assembled will also hear Israeli consul general Ido Aharoni speak about Koch's other fierce loyalty: Israel. Koch died Friday of congestive heart […]
On the day of the ceremony, the entrance to the Jewish Agency building in the city was blocked by snow.
Praising suicide bombers while demanding peace with Israel continues to be the two-pronged strategy of the Palestinian Authority. The official Facebook page of Fatah, headed by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, praised Wafa Idris, who detonated a 22-pound bomb in the center of Jerusalem in January 2001, killing an 81-year-old woman and wounded more than 100 […]
Israel bombed a Hizbullah listening post in Lebanon Sunday night, unaffected by Syrian and Iran threats to retaliate for the bombing of anti-aircraft missiles on the their to Hizbullah.
A new study funded by the U.S. State Dept. unsurprisingly concludes that both Israel and the Palestinian Authority textbooks ignore the other side even though it admits that Israeli textbooks tell their students more about the Palestinian Authority and are more self-critical. A PA education ministry official, Jihad Zarkarneh, blamed Israel for Arab textbooks being […]
Likud officials told Reshet Bet Radio that negotiations on cobbling a coalition are going sluggishly, as all the parties appear to be entrenched in their opening positions. According to a senior party official, Netanyahu has run into partners with new political standards, who insist on fulfilling their promises to the voters. The same source said […]
By JTA
Producing wine atop a tranquil mountain in a remote area of northern California is quite a way to make a living. For Benyamin Cantz, whose one-man operation in the hills of Santa Cruz produces kosher wine from organic grapes, it's also a calling. “I just love making wine and the holy concept behind it, and […]
The IDF Sunday night resumed a crackdown on Hamas politicians active in Judea and Samaria and arrested nine senior Hamas legislators. Soldiers also took into custody at least 18 other PA terror suspects. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' security forces officially are supposed to be tackling terrorism in Judea and Samaria, but the IDF usually does […]
More than 3,000 Gaza teenagers have earned a degree as “resistance fighters,” and de facto Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh is making sure they will be able to continue their higher education with a B.A. in terrorism. They learned one hour a week, using fake or real rifles and crawled under barbed wire to help […]
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz landed in the United States Sunday for a week of talks, hosted by U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey. The meetings were planned in advance but comes less than a week after Israel’s undeclared attack, apparently on a convoy of advanced […]
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who campaigned on an anti-Israel platform, vowed never to visit Jerusalem, and whose country is on the brink of bankruptcy, received four new F-16 war planes on Sunday from the United States, which praised Egypt “as a force for peace, security and leadership as the Middle East proceeds with its challenging […]
A green bell pepper affectionately dubbed “Godzilla” by the children of Moshav Ein Yahav in the northern Arava desert has won a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
What do IDF soldiers and Super Bowl football players in common? They take charge, never back down and are team players. For example: IDF soldier Asaf Katz.
By JTA
The Sunday Times of London apologized for publishing an editorial cartoon depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu building a wall on the bodies of Palestinians and using their blood as cement.
When the Shas Sephardi Haredi religious party is really to give up a Cabinet post for the sake of funding for yeshivas, you know they are really getting nervous.
Art Modell, who died in September, helped make pro football a multi-billion dollar empire, but the late Jewish owner of the Ravens won’t make it into the Hall of Fame, at least not this time.
By JTA
Anti-Semitism in Hungary is causing an influx of Jewish immigrants to Austria, the head of Vienna’s Jewish community reportedly said. “I am pleased people are coming but the circumstances that force them to leave Hungary due to the political situation, due to anti-Semitism, don’t please me at all,” Oskar Deutsch, president of the Vienna Jewish […]
John Kerry’s name today would have been John Kohn, or maybe Yonatan Kohn, if his great-grandfather had not converted to Catholicism, and assuming his parents would have survived the Holocaust.
Israeli forces detained 11 people in Arab Judea and Samaria overnight Saturday, Ma'an reported. Dozens of military vehicles raided the village of Beit Fajjar, in south Bethlehem, and arrested Mohammad Majed Amro Thwabteh, 20, Ali Mohammad Thwabteh, 28, Ihsan Hamied Takatka, 19, Mohammad Salih Thwabteh, 23, Jihad Ahmad Thwabteh, 23, Ala Nasri Takatka, 20, Shadi […]
Islamic Jihad, usually associated with Gaza and which makes Hamas look like marshmallows, is alive and well in Israel. So is the Shin Bet, which foiled a kidnap plot.
Netanyahu condemns the terror attack in letter to Obama
Tzipi has a lot more important things to celebrate now!
The settlements are “a mesh of construction and infrastructure leading to a creeping annexation that prevents the establishment of a contiguous and viable Palestinian State."
By Shalom Bear
Tasked with the job of forming the next coalition government, Netanyahu sets out his goals for this term.
By JTA
A lawsuit alleging that Hebrew National foods are not strictly kosher has been dismissed. A U.S. District Court judge in Minnesota ruled Wednesday that because kosher is a religious standard, it is a subject for rabbinic debate – not a federal court ruling. “The definition of the word 'kosher' is intrinsically religious in nature, and […]
By JTA
President Obama mourned the passing of New York Mayor Ed Koch, noting among Koch's passions his love for Israel. "In public office and beyond, his energy, force of personality, and commitment to causes ranging from civic issues to the security of the state of Israel always informed and enlivened the public discourse," Obama said Friday. […]
By JTA
The Reform movement corralled a broad array of religious denominations to call into Congress on Monday and demand action on gun violence. Participant organizations in the "Faiths Calling" event organized by Reform's Religious Action Center include the Reform, Orthodox, Conservative and Reconstructionist streams, as well as mainline and evangelical Protestant, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Sikh […]
By Ron Kampeas
Koch never met a solicitation for an opinion that he didn't like.
London’s Haredi establishment's reaction to a Channel 4 exposé that aired on Wednesday night was that it's a slur on their community to suggest it failed to tackle child abuse properly, reports the Jewish Chronicle's Simon Rocker. The news show "Dispatches" secretly taped the leader of Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, Rabbi Ephraim Padwa, instructing […]
Hamas terrorists blew off the left arm of Captain Ziv Shilon in an October roadside bomb attack at the Gaza border. Shilon now is back in action after “a very long journey.”
Like Europeans, Israelis are mad for their soccer. For some, soccer is the true religion of the Middle East, one shared by Muslims and Jews alike. But just as in Europe, not all soccer fans follow the normal rules of civility, and the behavior of some fans of one Israeli soccer team in particular, Jerusalem […]
Ronald Lauder and Morton Zuckerman, past chairmen of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations will head the groups’ 39th Annual Leadership Mission to Israel with a trip in advance to France, the Conference announced Thursday. The Conference is an umbrella group for 50 major U.S. Jewish organizations. More than 100 leaders of […]
While Netanyahu reportedly has his hands full with Yair Lapid's coalition demands, Avigdor Liberman met with Naftali Bennett today to discuss Bennett's joining the coalition, according to Avigdor Liberman's Facebook page. Liberman said they discussed the political options currently on the table as well as the Chareidi draft issue. They agreed to continue talking. Bennett […]
A United Nations “fact-finding” human rights commission has come up with a quick and simple answer to the Palestinian Authority’s designation of the “war crime” of 600,000 Jews living in homes on land that never belonged to the PA: Expel them. Concluding that Jews have no rights in Judea and Samaria or half of Jerusalem, […]
Twelve years of planning and nudging have finally given Tokyo’s Jewish population its first mikveh. Chabad reported that Jewish women in Tokyo previously had to travel 325 miles to the nearest mikveh, in the city of Kobe. Rabbi Mendi Sudakevich and his wife Chana have been working on the project for years, and an Israeli […]
The United States on Thursday warned Syria not to try to send missiles to Hizbullah in Lebanon, a day after Israel’s undeclared bombing of a convoy of Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles that could bring down Israeli Air Force jets. Significantly, U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes omitted any mention of Israel, but United Nations Secretary […]
Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli has purchased a swank Tel Aviv apartment for her 26 year-old brother, Dor, according to a report by Globes online business magazine.
President Shimon Peres wrote outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a “Dear Hillary” handwritten letter Thursday, expressing “bittersweet regret that I am writing this parting letter as your tenure as U.S. Secretary of State ends.” Peres has been a long-time champion of the moribund “peace process” that the United States has engineered but which […]
In honor of the upcoming Jewish holiday of Purim, gay news site Queerty is encouraging LGBT Jews to buy a new book featuring a Jewish boy with two fathers, the first of its kind to bring Judaism, children, and homosexuality together.
Though the permissibility of watching hired sports players go to battle in a large stadium is a source of controversy amongst Torah observant Jews, the food being served at the upcoming Super Bowl games in New Orleans is not.
The group was planning to kidnap an IDF soldier and use her or him as a bargaining chip for the release of Hamas prisoners.
A new study co-sponsored by the Jewish Agency shows that fears of Jewish youth turning against Israel by being exposed to the country are totally wrong and that their experience actually encourages them to volunteer in Israel. “Repair the World” and The Jewish Agency released the conclusions of the study on Thursday and it shows […]
By JTA
Venezuela's secret service SEBIN is spying on the country's Jewish community, according to purportedly leaked documents recently posted online. Last week Analisis24, a right-leaning Argentinean news website, released 50 documents attributed to the Venezuelan intelligence agency containing private information on prominent Venezuelan Jews, local Jewish organizations and Israeli diplomats in Latin America. The papers include […]
Syrian and its Iranian ally threatened on Thursday to retaliate against Israel for the undeclared bombing of a truck convoy of sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles header from Damascus to the Hizbullah terrorist army in Lebanon. Damascus "has the option and the capacity to surprise in retaliation,” warned Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul-Karim Ali. Pro-Syrian parties […]
Israel’s undeclared bombing of anti-aircraft missiles along the Syrian-Lebanese border foiled Hizbullah’s aim at being able to down Israel Air Force jets that destroyed a Syrian nuclear site under construction in 2007. Anonymous Israeli sources have confirmed Wednesday’s strike early morning targeted Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles, which include sophisticated electronic equipment. Restricting Israel’s ability to […]
Getting old is not so bad after all. An Israeli study says the reward for keeping a low cholesterol diet until age 80 or so is to let it all out and munch away at French fries and high-fat ice cream.
The IDF and secret security personnel have arrested 20 Hamas terrorists in the Hevron area, once again doing the work of the Palestinian Authority, constantly praised by the US for halting terror.
Troops have been writing home asking families and friends to send them care packages of cereals and other breakfast foods.
The Forward is going back to its roots and is about to launch the “Forverts” Yiddish-language website, further evidence of the incredible survival of the Yiddish language. New York hosts approximately 80,000 Chassidic Jews who speak Yiddish at home, and the community’s birth rate is soaring. The Forward will bring the Forverts site online on […]
Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard is facing a backlash from part of the country’s Jewish population of 107,000 following her announcement of election on September 14, which also is Yom Kippur. Jewish legislator Michael Danby said Labor must allow special voting arrangements for Jews or lose support from voters, the Australian “news.com” website reported. "As […]
Former Jewish Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head in a deadly shooting in Arizona two years ago, has called on Congress to “be bold” and “do something” to stop gun violence. Six people were murdered in the shooting spree. Speaking at a congressional hearing on the issue, she said, “It will be […]
Syria has admitted that Israel attacked, but it claims the bombing was aimed at a “research center,” while virtually all other sources said the targets were anti-aircraft missiles for Hizbullah.
"Like the right to free speech, academic freedom rights are not unbounded; the department has basically yelled “fire” on campus, and locked the doors to their department after doing so."
Two Arabic language websites in Britain and Egypt, banking on the theory that people will believe a lie if you tell it often enough, have dug out the “Blame Israel for 9/11” libel again.
Jewish Outreach founder Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald and Birthright’s co-founder, self-declared atheist Michael Steinhardt have agreed “to wrestle out” their beliefs in a debate.
Earlier this week, Israel’s Channel 10 TV News showed a platoon of pro-Assad Hizbullah fighters heading toward a chemical weapons base near the embattled city of Aleppo in northern Syria.
By Ben Sales
TEL AVIV – Last week’s Israeli election saw a major shakeup in the country’s government, with 53 new members elected to its parliament, the Knesset.
Nabatean King Obodas, revered as a deity, built the southern Negev city of Avdat 2000 years ago. Vandals tried to destroy it three years ago. Now it has been restored.
By Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency
The trees will provide some shelter from gun fire for Israeli hikers and motorists on the roads outside Nachal Oz.
Israel says it is transferring about $100 million in tax revenues that were frozen last year to the Palestinian Authority, AP reports. The Israeli government stated on Wednesday that this is a one-time arrangement, intended to ease the Palestinians' economic troubles. Israel froze the monthly payments after the PLO applied to the UN for recognition […]
By JTA
More than a dozen Israeli salesmen working at two shopping malls in Texas are facing deportation for overstaying their visas. Federal agents who raided the Galleria and Woodland malls in Houston near closing time on Jan. 23 arrested 13 Israelis and one Moldovan suspected of staying illegally in the country, the Houston Chronicle reported. The […]
By JTA
The cartoonist who depicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as building a wall on the bodies of Palestinians and using their blood as cement apologized for the timing of its publication. In a statement printed on his official website, Gerald Scarfe emphasized that "I am not, and never have been, anti-Semitic." He said the drawing, […]