Tag: JTA

As president of Manhattan's Fifth Avenue Synagogue, Merkin introduced Madoff to members like Mort Zuckerman and Elie Wiesel, who together took "a $2 billion bloodbath."

Mofaz, the Kadima leader who is in Washington this week for his first round of meetings since joining his party to the government, had a surprise meeting Thursday with the U.S. president when Obama interrupted a scheduled meeting with Tom Donilon, the national security adviser.

The author of “The Color Purple,” refused to authorize a Hebrew translation of her prize-winning work, citing what she called Israel’s “apartheid state.” She added: "It is my hope that the non-violent BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement, of which I am part, will have enough of an impact on Israeli civilian society to change the situation."

Class action lawsuit against Hebrew National alleges the company is misrepresenting its own kashrut standards “as defined by the most stringent Jews who follow Orthodox Jewish Law."

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury sat at the cafe of the five-star Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in downtown Dhaka – capital of the third-largest Muslim nation on earth – proclaiming his love for Israel and the Jewish people.

As President Peres is preparing to appeal to President Obama to grant clemency to convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. is saying Pollard is the means by which official Washington is punishing Israel for past and present sins.

Jacob Ostreicher remains locked up at Palmasola Prison in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. That notorious facility was designed to hold 1,000 prisoners, but is currently home to 3,500. Unlike U.S. facilities, this prison is essentially run by the prisoners. Guards provide food and make sure prisoners do not escape, but do nothing to maintain order within the prison’s walls.

The OU reps pressed Obama hard on his handling of US-Israel relations and on mandating contraceptive coverage. Obama accused Netanyahu of trying to "act without restraints."

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called on Israel to withdraw from all lands it occupied in 1967, warning that the two-state solution may not...

US undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence David Cohen, visiting Israel to coordinate sanctions policy with senior Israeli security, discussed plans to impose additional sanctions on Iran in the summer. In an interview with Haaretz, Cohen said: “If we don't get a breakthrough in Moscow there is no question we will continue to ratchet up the pressure."

The recent massacre at a Jewish school in Toulouse "triggered an explosion” in anti-Semitic attacks across France, according to the French Jewish community's protection service. Last Saturday afternoon, three young Jewish men came under attack on their way to synagogue by at least 10 men of North-African origin.

The City University of New York denied a report that it had created a special minority designation for Jewish faculty (see "Is CUNY Planning...

Belgium’s health minister Laurette Onkelinx said she was “profoundly troubled” by the behavior of her Israeli counterpart, Yaakov Litzman, after the Haredi official refused to shake her hand at a conference. The website Juif.org wrote: "There are indeed only two possibilities: either this lady is ignorant, or has malicious intent."

The sellout crowd that filled Citi Field on Sunday night wore black and white, not the New York Mets’ blue and orange. And instead of jeering the Philadelphia Phillies or Atlanta Braves, they faced a foe that was, intheir view, far more formidable: the World Wide Web.

At least 30,000 people participated in the Jerusalem Day parade known as the Dance of the Flags, interrupted by some clashes between marchers and Arab protesters.

The family of Daniel Wultz, 16, a Florida resident who was killed in a Palestinian suicide bomb attack in Tel Aviv won a $323 million judgment in a U.S. court against Iran and Syria. Attorney Darshan-Leitner said the Syrian government's aircraft, ships and corporations can be impounded to force Syria to comply with the court's ruling.

The House on Tuesday approved a non-binding resolution that "strongly supports United States policy to prevent the government of Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability," and expresses "opposition to any policy that would rely on containment as an option in response to the Iranian nuclear threat." Americans for Peace Now urged members of Congress to "vote NO or PRESENT."

Shop-A-Fada, a play on the violent Palestinian intifada, was launched Monday. It encourages the public to counter anti-Israel boycotts with the purchase of merchandise...

Israel's Cabinet will meet in a special session to discuss legalizing the Ulpana Hill Neighborhood in Judea and Samaria, in response to a Supreme...

Speaking at the annual convention of the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly in Atlanta on Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden made the case that Obama's strategies regarding the Iranian nuclear program have worked, but said the decision to strike must be Israel's. "I would not contract out my security to anybody, even a loyal, loyal, loyal friend like the United States," Biden said.

Coupled with the new political reality engendered by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's new and broad unity government, Congress' supplementary funding appears to advance Israel's preparation for the military option against Iran, as well as the potential international and military fallout.

Some 5,000 French Jews participated in an aliyah fair in Paris. The fair, organized and run by the Jewish Agency, took place on the Sunday of Francois Hollande's election as their new president, beating incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy—the Jewish community's favorite. A recent poll found that 26 percent of those surveyed said they have considered emigrating due to French anti-Semitism.

Following his victory Sunday, the 57-year-old François Hollande shouted himself hoarse, as he had done so often during the campaign, thanking his supporters for electing him president and promising to unite the whole country. But Richard Prasquier, President of the Jewish-French organizations, says one of the changes the Hollande presidency brings is a boost to the anti-Israel left.

After the Israeli Supreme Court struck down the Tal Law, which sought to encourage over time the inclusion of Haredim in military service, the court, for all intents and purposes, has required the state to draft some 60,000 Haredi youths this August. As Knesset factions are preparing for new, early national elections, Haredi enlistment will likely serve as the battle field where many voters' choices will be made.

Belgian Jews are at loggerheads as a result of an EU vote to dispatch the UN to Israel on a mission to scrutinize Jewish towns and communities in Judea and Samaria.

This April, 70 years since the Nazi invasion on Lithuania destroyed the 800-year connection of the country with the Jewish people, a $50 million package was passed to compensate Jewish families whose property was stolen during the Holocaust, according to a report by JTA.

Both Israel's premier and its president invoked the Iranian threat at the Yom Hashoah ceremony at Yad VaShem. Netanyahu said: "People who dismiss the Iranian threat as a whim or an exaggeration have learned nothing from the Holocaust." Peres said, "Today humanity has no choice, we must learn from the lessons of the Holocaust and stand strong against existential threats before it is too late."

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."...

PARIS – When Arie Bensemhoun, a Jewish community leader in Toulouse, woke up Tuesday morning, he thought for a moment the horrific shooting of three children and a rabbi at a local Jewish school might have been a bad dream.

Although J Street describes itself as a pro-Israel organization that supports peace between Israel and its neighbors, many Israelis and US Jews, including many public figures, have said that J Street is anti-Israel, particularly in relation to the security challenges facing the Jewish state. Several US Jewish leaders have objected to J Street's position on Israel, and have publicly disassociated themselves from the organization.