Middle East

Netanyahu: Path to peace is not through conferences

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday once again criticized the French peace initiative, as Paris prepares to convene a conference of foreign ministers on Friday to discuss the diplomatic stalemate in relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). “The path to peace is not via international conferences that attempt to force a settlement, that […]

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International, Middle East

Mohels warned to get checked for herpes after babies infected

Two babies were hospitalized at Schneider Children’s Hospital in Petach Tikva for being infected with herpes during circumcision, Kikar HaShabbat reports Wednesday night – and a prominent mohel has demanded that fellow mohels get checked for the disease before performing the ceremony. Mohel Rabbi Shlomo Mahfoud told the daily that mohels must “check themselves first

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education

UN envoy: Jewish Home ‘killing hope’ of a Palestinian state

The UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process on Wednesday accused the Jewish Home party, a member of the governing coalition, of “killing hope” for a peace treaty with the Palestinian Authority. Nickolay Mladenov spoke after a minister from the Jewish Home party, which holds several portfolios in Netanyahu’s government, declared the party

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International, Middle East

It took this man 10 years to realize he was living in a synagogue

In 1990, Jihad Al-Mohammed moved into an abandoned building in the old city of Sidon in south Lebanon. The Lebanese civil war had just come to end. The Palestinian refugees who had been sheltering in the centuries-old structure had gone. “But it was filled with rats and garbage,” says Mohammed. “So I cleaned it up.”

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Jewish Religion, Middle East

Bar Association: Sara Netanyahu’s lawyer ‘incited against judge’

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s wife Sara Netanyahu is facing a longstanding court case alleging she verbally abused workers at the Prime Minister’s Residence, and after her lawyer defended her on Tuesday the Israel Bar Association issued rare criticism. The Jerusalem Labor Court on Tuesday awarded former employee Guy Eliyahu $30,000 in damages, after finding Sara

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Middle East

‘The question today is whether Europe has a future’

The Conference of European Rabbis gathered this week in Vienna, Austria, where they discussed political and halakhic issues currently on the agenda, including extreme rightist parties being elected to office in Europe, halakhic issues such as kosher slaughter, and others. Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, who was elected for a new five-year term as president of the

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International, Middle East

Clinton’s deafening silence on anti-Israel platform fight

As presidential candidate Bernie Sanders presses to have the Democratic party adopt a pro-Palestinian stance, his rival Hillary Clinton has remained noticeably tight-lipped on the subject, showing the balancing act she is playing in a shifting party. Sanders has been given five of the 15 seats on the party platform drafting committee at the Democratic

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Middle East, USA

Israel arrests Iranian reporter for incitement

Police have arrested Bassem al-Safadi, a reporter and photographer for the Iranian Arabic-language channel al-Alam, on suspicion of incitement and supporting terror. Al-Safadi has already been taken before a court for his initial sentencing. The judge declared that he will remain in custody until Sunday. Al-Alam claims that there was no justification for the arrest,

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Middle East

US ‘welcomes’ Netanyahu and Lieberman’s comments on PA state

SDJW Editor’s Note: Transliterations vary on the spelling of the Defense Minister’s surname.  Along with various publications, we use “Lieberman,” whereas others, including Arutz Sheva below, use “Liberman.” US State Department officials welcomed comments by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reaffirming his support of the two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea

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Middle East, USA

‘A constant barrage of anti-Israeli propaganda at UCLA’

Oleg Ivanov, a member of the diplomacy and public policy group Jewish Diplomatic Corps (JDCorps), spoke to Arutz Sheva about his organization’s struggle against the BDS boycott movement targeting Israel, and about rising anti-Semitism on college campuses. Ivanov is a student at UCLA, where the BDS movement has a particularly strong presence. He noted on

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA