USA

Birthright names 500,000th participant, launches ‘Tel Aviv Urban Experience’ (JNS.org) The Taglit-Birthright Israel program, which takes Jews ages 18-26 on free 10-day trips to Israel, on Wednesday named its 500,000th participant. During an event at Tel Aviv’s Wohl Amphitheater on Wednesday, Birthright’s founders, philanthropists Michael Steinhardt and Charles Bronfman, met the milestone trip participant, 24-year-old […]

Israel may nix funding for theater over Arab actor’s Jordan Valley boycott (JNS.org) Israeli Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev issued a strong rebuke of Arab-Israeli actor Norman Issa on Tuesday after Israel Hayom reported that he was unwilling to join his fellow cast members in the play Boomerang when they perform in the Jordan Valley.

Hosting Czech FM, Netanyahu says Palestinians set ‘perfect trap’ on peace talks (JNS.org) The Palestinian Authority rejects peace talks with Israel and then tries to get boycotts imposed on the Jewish state over the absence of peace talks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting Czech Republic Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek in Jerusalem on Monday, calling

U.S. Supreme Court strikes down law allowing ‘Jerusalem, Israel’ on passports (JNS.org) The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday struck down a law that enabled Americans born in Jerusalem—which the U.S. government does not recognize as a part of any country—to list “born in Israel” on their passports, on the grounds that Congress overstepped the president’s

CEO of French telecom company Orange expresses desire to boycott Israel (JNS.org) Stephane Richard, CEO of the French telecommunications giant Orange, said at a news conference in Egypt on Wednesday that he would have his company boycott Israel as soon as “tomorrow,” but isn’t yet prepared to make that move. French advocacy groups have been

Israelis ‘believe we have no better friend than Canada,’ Netanyahu says (JNS.org) Upon hosting Canadian Foreign Minister Robert Nicholson in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israelis believe the Jewish state has “no better friend than Canada.” Netanyahu cited recent instances of “international hypocrisy,” including the passage of a motion to boycott