Middle East

LONDON (WJC)– Muslim police officers in Britain have blamed the government’s anti-terrorism strategy for triggering an upsurge in Islamophobia and deepening divisions between communities. The National Association of Muslim Police (NAMP) warned that the ‘Prevent’ program, which aims to combat violent extremism, was “stigmatizing” Muslims by focusing on “so-called Islamist extremism.” The group said the […]

HEBRON (WJC)–Hamas is reportedly ready to accept Israel’s right to exist and prepared to nullify its charter which calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, according to Aziz Dwaik, Hamas’s most senior representative in the West Bank and the elected speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council. According to the ‘Jerusalem Post’ Dwaik made these

PARIS (WJC)–The ultra-traditionalist Catholic Bishop Richard Williamson, whose denial of the extent of the Holocaust created an uproar a year ago, in a French video clip has called the discussions between the Vatican and his Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) a “dialogue of the deaf.” Williamson is one of the four SSPX bishops whose

By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM (Press Release)–You only have to read The Marker, the business section of the Israeli daily Ha’aretz, to be aware of the economic dynamism in the country. Whether it’s the ads for expensive cars or the availability and prices of luxury homes, the reader is soon persuaded that there’s scope for

JERUSALEM (WJC)–Israel’s Holocaust Memorial institution Yad Vashem has named the late André Reeders and Aaltje Reeders-Wittermans as Righteous Gentiles Among the Nations for sheltering the Jewish couple Sally and Claire Gimnicher-Hirsch in their home near Amsterdam in 1942, at the request of the Dutch resistance movement. Unlike most cases, the two couples had had no

JERUSALEM (WJC)–Israel has resumed a scheme to airlift 2,000 Falash Mura – Ethiopians of Jewish descent – out of the east African country and bring them to Israel. The scheme was halted in August 2008, when the Israeli government announced the airlifts would be ended. Eighty-one new immigrants arrived on a flight from Ethiopia to

HAIFA (Press Release)–Israeli backpackers find themselves hosted by Christian missionaries in New Zealand because of the good lodging deals that they offer; but during their stay, these Israelis also get unique spiritual experiences. This has been illustrated in a new study carried out at the University of Haifa’s Center for Tourism, Pilgrimage and Recreation. “Even