Travel and Food

Obama condemns terror attacks in Egypt and Nigeria

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)–President Barack Obama issued the following statement through the White House press office on Monday: “I strongly condemn the separate and outrageous terrorist bombing attacks in Egypt and Nigeria. The attack on a church in Alexandria, Egypt caused 21 reported deaths and dozens of injured from both the Christian and Muslim communities.  […]

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Travel and Food

Middle East fictions often invented to appease U.S. policy makers

By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM– If before we came to Jerusalem last month I harboured notions about the possibility of a comprehensive and early peace between Israel and the Palestinians, I abandoned them once I tried to follow events here, this time not from afar but at least geographically closer to the action. All the official

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Middle East, Travel and Food

President Obama’s appointment of ambassador undeserved by Syria

By Samara Greenberg   WASHINGTON, D.C.  — President Barack Obama bypassed the U.S. Senate Wednesday  and appointed four new U.S. ambassadors to fill empty envoy positions in Azerbaijan, Syria, Turkey, and the Czech Republic. Lawmakers had previously blocked or refused to consider the nominees’ confirmations for months. The appointees can now serve without Senate confirmation until the

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Travel and Food

Rothman asks Sarkozy to reconsider anti-tank missile sale to Lebanon

WASHINGTON, D.C (Press Release)– Representative Steve Rothman (D-NJ), a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittees on Defense, and State and Foreign Operations, sent the following letter to French President Nicolas Sarkozy requesting that France reconsider its reported plans to sell anti-tank missiles to the Lebanese Armed Forces. The full text of the letter: President Nicolas Sarkozy

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Travel and Food

Surprise! Many people in Jerusalem get along with each other

By Judy Lash Balint JERUSALEM–The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg is visiting Jerusalem over the Christmas holiday with his family–Goldberg penned a little piece for the magazine’s blog about how astonished he was by all the multi-cultural experiences he’s had here over the past few days–things that Jerusalemites take completely for granted. Goldberg waxes eloquent about being

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Travel and Food

AJC urges U.S. to close gaps in Iran sanctions policy

NEW YORK (Press Release) — The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is urging the U.S. government to move expeditiously to close any gaps in the otherwise stringent economic sanctions imposed on nuclear-aspiring Iran. A New York Times investigation, published Monday, revealed that sanctions enforcement is not uniform. “Loopholes in our own country’s sanctions regime, now exposed, require

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Travel and Food

2010 was busy, productive year for revived Latvian Jewish community

By Rabbi Menachem BarkahanRIGA, Latvia — Here are some of the highlights of 2010 for Shamir, the Jewish community of Latvia:  The Riga  Ghetto  and  Latvian  Holocaust  museum  were  opened in September  2010 http://www.rgm.lv/?lang=en  The Second International Festival of Jewish culture gathered more than 4, 000  visitors  for  10  events  in  Latvia  and  Lithuania, including international  celebrities

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Travel and Food

Jews in Japanese-controlled Indonesia suffered worse fate than Jews in other Japanese controlled lands

HAIFA (Press Release)–New facts are being revealed about another Jewish population that was persecuted during WWII: Indonesian Jewry – of which very little has been known to date. This community suffered greatly under Japanese occupation, and in a study that set out to provide a first and in-depth examination of the causes for the prejudice

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Travel and Food

Holocaust artist Elmo Gideon dies at 86

THOMASVILLE, Georgia  (Press Release)– Holocaust  artist Elmo Gideon, 86, died Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at his home and studios here after a lengthy illness. He has been described as an “artist who borders on being an elemental force” whose own ambitions guided him in the development of revolutionary paints and sculpting compounds, technique, form and application that

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Travel and Food

Private employees show greater ’emotional intelligence’ than public employees, study indicates

HAIFA, Israel (Press Release)–A new study from the University of Haifa shows that within the private sector high levels of emotional intelligence empower positive attitudes towards the workplace and decrease negative behavior; however, the same effect was not found within the public sector. “The results of this study emphasize the existence of significant behavioral differences

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Travel and Food

In retrial, torturers and murderers of Ilan Halimi draw longer prison terms

PARIS (WJC)–The President of the Council of French Jewish Organisations, Richard Prasquier, said he was satisfied with the retrial of the self-proclaimed “Gang of Barbarians” who tortured to death Ilan Halimi five years ago. A court of appeal handed stiffer sentences to the two main accomplices of gang leader Yusuf Fofana, who had their convictions

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Travel and Food

ADL calls for denunciation of anti-Semitic Greek Orthodox bishop

NEW YORK (Press Release) — The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Wednesday urged the Greek Orthodox Church to publicly denounce blatantly anti-Semitic comments made by one of its bishops. During an interview with a popular television show in Greece, Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus blamed Jews for orchestrating the Holocaust and accused “world Zionism” of a conspiracy

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Travel and Food

More Iranian businesses designated by U.S. Treasury Department as ineligible for American investment or trade

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)–The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced on Tuesday, Dec. 21,  a set of designations targeting the financial networks of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the country’s national maritime carrier, the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL). The  actions further expose the continued engagement of the IRGC and IRISL in

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Travel and Food