WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)–On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud, and the people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on your national day this September 23. King Abdullah’s leadership on key challenges, from developing the

MOSCOW (WJC) — Russia has canceled plans to supply Iran with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles due to UN sanctions imposed against Tehran, a senior Russian military official has said. “A decision has been taken not to supply the S-300 to Iran, they undoubtedly fall under sanctions,” the ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov

NEW YORK (WJC)–German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been honored for her work in German-Jewish reconciliation with an award from a US group founded by a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. The Leo Baeck Institute presented its first medal ever to a serving German head of government for Merkel’s work in cultivating a good relationship between

AMSTERDAM (Press Release)–Anti-Semitism in the Netherlands nearly doubled in 2009 compared to 2008. Police said that 209 incidents had been documented last year, accounting for nearly a tenth of all discriminatory incidents in the country. Experts said this increase might only be “the tip of the iceberg”. This represented a 48 per cent rise year-on-year

MERCER ISLAND, Washington (WJC)–Anti-Semitic graffiti, including swastikas and references to the Nazi gas chambers, has been spray-painted on the walls of a Jewish high school in the US state of Washington. The epithets in orange, blue and gray paint on the Northwest Yeshiva High School on Mercer Island were daubed late on Thursday last week

JERUSALEM (WJC)–Large riots have erupted in east Jerusalem as approximately 1,000 people joined a funeral procession for a Palestinian killed by an Israeli security guard in Silwan in the early hours of Wednesday. Ten people were injured, including a 35-year-old Israeli who was stabbed in the back near Mount of Olives and three police officers.

NEW YORK (Press Release)–Leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations decried the latest YouTube video attributed to the terrorist organization Hamas that threatens the life of Israeli prisoner Gilad Shalit. The 24-second video shows two masked gunmen standing on either side of Gilad Shalit. As the video fades to black, the