By Steve Kramer ALFE MENASHE, Israel–Avi Shavit is a native-born Israeli Zionist and peace activist. He is also a respected columnist for Ha’aretz newspaper, Israel’s most left wing newspaper. A leading Israeli author, Shavit published his best-selling My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel in 2013. It has become a bestseller. Here’s an […]
‘My Promised Land,’ well written but uneven Read More »
Middle East, Steve KramerArab MKs attack plan to build new Galilee Jewish communities (JNS.org) The Knesset’s Interior Committee was the scene of heated emotions on Thursday as Arab MKs attacked the Israeli government initiative to build new Jewish communities in northern Israel’s Galilee region. MK Hanna Swaid (Hadash) spoke of the “obsession of the housing and construction minister
JNS news briefs: Feburary 7, 2014 Read More »
InternationalNEW YORK (Press Release) – The Patriot Act’s overly broad definitions of “terrorist activity” and “terrorist group” that have unjustly prevented thousands of refugees — who do not pose a threat to the United States – from receiving protection in the United States, will no longer be applied to certain refugees, according to an announcement
HIAS praises relaxation of ‘TRIG’ bars Read More »
USA
NEW YORK (Press Release)– AJC is challenging the Presbyterian Church (USA) commitment to Israeli-Palestinian peace, following the publication of Zionism Unsettled: A Congregational Study Guide. This study guide, billed by the church as an educational resource, was produced by the Israel Palestine Mission Network (IPMN), one of the church’s educational arms. “It is a devastating distortion
Jewish groups hit Presbyterian study guide on Israel Read More »
Jewish Religion, Middle East
By Rafael Medoff/JNS.org Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has reiterated that he won’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and he’s claiming support for that position from an unlikely quarter: former U.S. president Harry Truman. But a closer look reveals that Truman’s words are being misrepresented. In a Feb. 3 interview with the New York
Abbas gets Truman episode all wrong Read More »
Middle East
By Debra Rubin/JNS.org Aviva Sufian was just 8 years old when her mother took her to an American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors event in Philadelphia in 1985. She remembers survivor after survivor standing up and announcing, “My name is, and this is where I’m from.” Sufian, whose grandparents had come to this country shortly
Sufian is federal government’s envoy to Shoah survivors Read More »
USAU.S., Palestinians condemn approval of new Israeli construction in Jerusalem (JNS.org) The U.S. and the Palestinians on Wednesday both condemned the Jerusalem municipality local planning committee’s approval of construction permits for 768 new residential units, including some units in neighborhoods located beyond the 1967 lines. “Our position on Jerusalem is clear,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman
JNS news briefs: February 6, 2014 Read More »
InternationalBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — A sage cited in the Ethics of the Fathers taught that the world is founded on three things: Torah (sacred study), Avodah (worship, which is also the word for “work”) and G’millut Chassadim (acts of loving-kindness). Law professor Aviad Hacohen, writing in the daily Yisrael Hayom, offers a haredi
Court sets deadline for Haredi conscription Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Are they or aren’t they threatening Israel? The US Secretary of State and the EU Representative in Israel both said, within days of one another, that the failure of the Israel-Palestine peace talks will increase the economic pressure on Israel. Israeli officials responded to both with counter threats that such language has
Are Kerry and EU threatening Israel, or not? Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
NEW YORK (Press Release) — The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Wednesday, Feb. 5, decried comments about Reform Judaism attributed to Israeli parliament member David Rotem as “inappropriate, offensive and unjustified,” and called on the Knesset member to retract his statements “quickly and unequivocally” and apologize to the Reform Movement. According to news reports, Mr. Rotem,
Israeli MK dismissive of Reform Judaism Read More »
Middle East
Editor’s Note: Holocaust Survivor Garry Fabian, on the invitation of several German Foundations, recently returned to his native Stuttgart and other German cities from Australia, where he took refuge after liberation from Theresienstadt. Fabian kept a journal on the trip, excerpts from which we reprint here. By Garry Fabian 21-22 January Departed Melbourne at 10.30pm
Holocaust Survivor Fabian is feted by Germans Read More »
International, Jewish History
By Ryan Scott Karben NEW YORK — There was a political earthquake in Albany on Tuesday, Feb. 4, and its tremors reached Jerusalem. A bill to penalize organizations at New York universities that participate in academic boycotts of Israel was yanked from consideration by the State Assembly’s Committee on Higher Education at the last minute.
Democrats’ support for Israel keeps eroding Read More »
USA
WASHINGTON, D.C (Press Release)- Congresswoman Susan Davis (CA-53) joined her colleagues in offering an amendment to let the Secretary of the Interior include climate change in considering decisions on conservation and recreation on public lands. The amendment was an effort to improve a House Majority legislation (HR 3590) attempting to undermine environmental protections for National
National Parks should weigh climate change–Davis Read More »
USANEW YORK (Press Release) — AJC is gratified that the New York State Assembly will not consider a bill to bar state funding of colleges and universities that support boycotts against Israel. The New York State Senate had adopted the proposed legislation, but the measure’s sponsors in the Assembly decided to withdraw it. “There is
AJC applauds withdrawal of anti-boycott bill Read More »
Middle East