International

Pro-Israel groups set Nov. 30 as ‘Buy Israeli Goods’ Day

By Roz Rothstein LOS ANGELES — On Tuesday, November 30, anti-Israel activists in New York City plan to demonstrate and call for boycotts of stores that sell Israeli products.  Their target is Ricky’s because it carries Ahava goods.  But this action in New York is just one of many.  Boycotters have been energetically lobbying other […]

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USA

Latest in delegitimization campaign: Palestinians say Kotel not Jewish

JERUSALEM (WJC) — Israel has called on the Palestinian leadership to publicly disassociate itself from a “scientific study” by a Palestinian Authority official which denies Jewish claims to the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site. PM Netanyahu’’s spokesman Mark Regev said: “This is not the sort of statement to be expected from a partner in peace.” He

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Middle East

Haifa University confers honorary doctorate on OECD secretary general

HAIFA (Press Release) — Secretary-General of the OECD Angel Gurrίa received the University of Haifa’s highest accolade, the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, honoris causa, at a gala event at the University on Nov. 22. Gurrίa received the tribute in recognition of his efforts in promoting economic cooperation and for his friendship and longstanding support

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Middle East

NCJW: Don’t take from children’s dinners to pay for their lunches

WASHINGTON,  DC (Press Release) – The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) on Wednesday, Nov. 24,  called on the House of Representatives to pass the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which will improve programs that provide access to food for families and children in need. NCJW President Nancy Ratzan released the following statement: “On the eve of Thanksgiving,

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USA

Statements from U.S. policy makers on Israel, Lebanon show their disconnection from Middle East reality

By Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel — Sometimes you have to wait until high-ranking officials leave office to find out how truly clueless they are. Such is the case with former National Security Advisor James Jones. Israel-Palestinian peace is easy to obtain, he explained in a lecture. Why?  Because the Palestinians are willing to accept Israel

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Middle East, USA

When soap-opera affairs are reminiscent of international relations

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–You want soap opera in real life?  It is far from politically correct to be cynical in the presence of charges about sexual harassment and rape, but who wants politically correct in the presence of these stories? The initial inquiry into a leading candidate for the job of national police chief has

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

J Street urges President Obama to press for decision on Israel-Palestinian borders

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)–To address persistent stagnation in Israeli-Palestinians negotiations, J Street is putting forth a new policy proposal urging President Obama to adopt a bolder, more assertive strategy to resolve the conflict.  The pro-Israel, pro-peace movement is asking the administration not to pin its strategy on obtaining a 90-day extension of the partial settlement

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Middle East

6,604 hate crimes reported across U.S. in 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)–The FBI released on MONDAY, Nov. 22, the  2009 statistics which indicated that 6,604 criminal incidents involving 7,789 offenses were reported as a result of bias toward a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, or physical or mental disability. Hate Crime Statistics, 2009, published by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, includes

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USA

Obama pushes on behalf of Palestinians, and still they won’t make peace

By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. –The United States is offering Israel a variety of gifts and promises in exchange for a 90-day building freeze that includes eastern Jerusalem (according to a U.S. official, as reported by Ha’aretz) to induce the Palestinians to negotiate with Israel for the Palestinian state to which President Obama appears committed.  

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Middle East

Reform Movement urges repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)— The leaders of the Reform Movement on Monday, Nov. 22,  sent a letter to Secretary Robert Gates urging him to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, a regulation that threatens the rights of all LBGTQ servicemen and women by prohibiting them from serving openly in the United States military. The full text of

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USA

ADL urges more cities to participate in FBI’s hate crime report

NEW YORK (Press Release) — The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Monday, Nov. 22, welcomed a substantial drop in the number of hate crimes documented by a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) report, but expressed disappointment that more than 60 U.S. cities with 100,000-plus populations still did not participate in the annual study. The FBI’s 2009 report documenting

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USA

ADL, other western organizations, fail to confront Islamism as modern propagator of anti-Semitism

By Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel — At a time when antisemitism is at the highest point in the West and the world generally since 1945, the battle against it faces a terrible obstacle. To a very large extent, the driving force of this hatred is revolutionary Islamism, whether it be in the form of attitudes

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Middle East, USA