Middle East

German Foreign Minister Assures Israel of Support, Criticizes Settlements

Published by DPA German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock used her first official visit to Israel to assure Israeli leaders of Germany’s determination to fight anti-Semitism and criticize the settlement building backed by the current premier, Naftali Bennett. During a meeting with her counterpart Yair Lapid, Baerbock said that Israel’s security remained of fundamental importance to […]

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International, Middle East

Not Just in the Bible: Israeli Researchers’ Novel Explanation for Locust Swarming

(JNS) Locust swarms have been a major cause of famine from ancient times right up to the present day. Now, researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) have shown that locusts’ microbiomes may play a role in their aggregation behavior. Specifically, the researchers found that bacteria called Weissella, almost completely absent from the microbiome of solitary

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education

Holocaust Memorial Says It’s Unlikely Purported ‘Auschwitz Tattoo Kit’ Was Used on Jews

Published by Reuters By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A partial tattoo kit offered at auction in Israel as an Auschwitz artefact is highly unlikely to have been used on Jews at the Nazi concentration camp, a court-ordered investigation has found following outcry from Holocaust survivors. The eight fingernail-sized steel dies, each lined with pins

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Holocaust, Middle East

Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra’s Beethoven Feast

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Being able to hear all five Beethoven piano concerti played on two successive evenings was a rare treat. This was provided by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, conducted by maestro Steven Sloane, and brought Beethoven’s immense oeuvre in this realm into sharp and impressive perspective. On the first evening

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Dissecting the Ongoing Wave of Antisemitism

By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — Never would we expect Nazis assaulting an American Jew near Disney World. Or anywhere else in this nation. Yet authorities report that Nazis did in Orlando nearly two weeks ago what Nazis commonly did in Germany 85 years ago. Furthermore, the victim – identified as David Newstat, a student

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Bruce Ticker, Holocaust, International, Middle East, Opinion, USA

Amnesty International’s Pseudo-Scholarship

By Richard L. Cravatts, Ph.D  BOCA RATON, Florida — In May, while Hamas was firing more than 3,000 deadly rockets from Gaza with the express purpose of murdering Jewish Israelis, members of academic communities around the world were falling over themselves to express their solidarity, not with the beleaguered citizens of the Jewish state again

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International, Middle East, Opinion, USA

Iran Unveils Long-Range Missile as Vienna Nuclear Talks Resume

Published by Reuters By Parisa Hafezi DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran unveiled a new domestically-made missile with a range of 1,450 kilometers on Wednesday, state TV reported, a day after Tehran and Washington resumed indirect talks to salvage a 2015 nuclear deal. Iran, which has one of the biggest missile programmes in the Middle East, says its

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International, Middle East

US Hopes to Seal Israel-Lebanon Maritime Agreement

By Yaakov Lappin (JNS) In recent days, Lebanese President Michel Aoun told a U.N. envoy that his country is ready to return to indirect negotiations with Israel over the maritime border between the two countries. Days later, the U.S. envoy to the maritime negotiations, Amos Hochstein, began conducting shuttle diplomacy, involving meetings with Israel’s Energy

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Middle East, USA

2 Potential Successors to Palestinian President Named to Top Posts

Published by Reuters UK RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Two potential successors to 86-year-old Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were named on Monday to top posts in the Palestine Liberation Organization at a meeting boycotted by his Islamist rivals. Official Palestinian news agency WAFA said the PLO’s 141-member Central Council appointed Hussein Al-Sheikh, 61, an Abbas

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Middle East

Redefining ‘Religious’ With Yuval David

By Eric George Tauber CINCINNATI, Ohio — When most of us hear the term “religious,” we think of sheitels, shtreimels, and what we can’t do on Shabbos, which is why most of us aren’t “religious” or “that religious.” However, Yuval David, an actor, filmmaker, and activist, is reclaiming what it means to be “religious” as

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Eric George Tauber, Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Moving Backwards

By Shoshana Bryen (JNS) U.S. Ambassador Thomas Nides spoke before the conference of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Israel this week. He was charming and reassuring, and stressed the bipartisan nature of American government support for Israel. “We have unbreakable ties, and we will reinforce them.” Unfortunately, he also took a large

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Middle East, Opinion, Shoshana Bryen, USA

StandWithUs Urges University of Chicago Administration to Condemn Discriminatory SJP Campaign

LOS ANGELES (Press Release) — The Israel education organization StandWithUs sent the following letter to University of Chicago President Robert J. Zimmer and Dean of Students Michele Rasmussen. * February 4, 2022 Robert J. Zimmer, Ph.D., President, The University of Chicago Michele Rasmussen, Ph.D., Dean of Students, The University of Chicago VIA EMAIL: president@uchicago.edu; mrasmussen@uchicago.edu

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Israel Virtually Drops COVID-19 Vaccine Passport Requirement

Published by DPA Israel has virtually dropped a rule requiring people to show documents to prove their vaccination status, despite record numbers of severely ill patients suffering from Covid-19. As of Monday, people will only have to prove they have been vaccinated or recovered by showing their “green passport” when attending major events such as

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Middle East

Amnesty’s Report Assures Distortion on Israeli Arabs

By Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D JERUSALEM — On February 1, Amnesty International, claiming to be a movement of 10 million people, published a report headlined, “Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: a cruel system of domination and a crime against humanity.” A couple of days before then, Israel managed to obtain a copy, and began a campaign that

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International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, Opinion