Jon Stewart performing as part of Comedy Central’s "Night Of Too Many Stars" at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, Feb. 28, 2015. (Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for Comedy Central)
(JTA) – For years it has been written about, and on the night of July 23 it was sealed: Jon Stewart is proud to be Jewish. With just two weeks left before he leaves “The Daily Show” following a 16-year run as host – and well ahead of the… Read more »
Having just returned from several weeks in Israel, I am struck by the fact that a very significant aspect of the Iran debate is receiving very little attention in the American news media: the fact that the mainstream Israeli left is just as strongly opposed to the agreement as… Read more »
Rep. Martha McSally (R.-Ariz.) will be one of more than 40 U.S. lawmakers traveling to Israel next month to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prior to a Congressional vote on the nuclear deal with Iran. Congress has until Sept. 17 to vote on the agreement the United States and five other countries (known… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak to the American Jewish community and friends of Israel in a live webcast on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2015 at 1 pm EDT. Register here to receive the web link for access to the address. Participation is free and open to all. The… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Six marchers were stabbed at Jerusalem’s annual gay pride parade — allegedly by the man who stabbed three people at the parade in 2005. One victim in Thursday’s stabbings was in critical condition and two were in serious condition. The alleged assailant — Yishai Schlissel, a… Read more »
Egg banks report that they cannot meet the demand for Jewish donations. (Ian Waldie/Getty Images) ROCKVILLE, Md. (Washington Jewish Week via JTA) – Laura has donated her eggs four times to women who needed help having children. “It gave me a real sense of purpose,” she said. “It really is a great personal pleasure to know that I have something that changes someone’s life.”… Read more »
A heavily damaged hotel near the Donetsk airport in Ukraine, Feb. 26, 2015. The fighting between Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels has wreaked havoc on the Ukraine hryvnia.(Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
(JTA) – For many years Rami Waisman, the director of a major jewelry chain, was earning enough to give back handsomely to the Jewish communal institutions in his eastern Ukraine hometown, Dnepropetrovsk. But these days Waisman is struggling and can no longer financially support such institutions as the local synagogue,… Read more »
Israelis calling for the release of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard in Jerusalem, March 21, 2013. (Liar Mizrahi/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Barack Obama will not alter the terms of Jonathan Pollard’s parole once he is released, a signal that Israel’s struggle to bring him to the country whose citizenship he has assumed will outlast his November release date. “Mr. Pollard will serve his sentence as mandated… Read more »
Activists demonstrating in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the estimated 20,000 Dominicans of Haitian descent who were stripped of their citizenship and are facing expulsion, June 22, 2015. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Fewer than 800 miles from our shores, a deeply disturbing crisis is unfolding as tens of thousands of citizens of the Dominican Republic face deportation from their country simply because of their heritage. Tragically, people of Haitian descent who were born in the Dominican Republic… Read more »
Uri Ariel, left, Israel's minister of housing, and Knesset Chairman Yuli Edelstein at a Passover seder held in honor of Jonathan Pollard, pictured, at the Knesset, April 8, 2014. (Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — When the United States frees convicted spy Jonathan Pollard in November, many in Israel will celebrate the moment for which they have fought and hoped. What Pollard’s release won’t do, officials and analysts say, is make most Israelis feel any better about the nuclear deal with Iran. Pollard, who was convicted… Read more »
Mike Huckabee fielding questions at The Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, July 18, 2015. The Republican presidential candidate is standing by remarks he made over the weekend that President Obama is marching Israelis "to the door of the oven" as part of the Iran nuclear deal. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Call it a double miracle for the pastor who would be president: Mike Huckabee managed to unite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama while grabbing the spotlight from Donald Trump. Netanyahu’s ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, slammed Huckabee, a Republican… Read more »
Sen. Charles Schumer participating in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, July 8, 2015. Schumer, a New York Democrat, is seen as a key vote on the Iran deal. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Turn off the ads, turn down the noise and read, listen and consult. That’s what five key Jewish lawmakers say they are planning for the five to seven weeks they have to contemplate their vote on the Iran nuclear deal. There are 28 Jews in Congress,… Read more »
Hundreds turned out for a protest in Los Angeles against the Iran nuclear deal, July 26, 2015. (Peter Duke)
NEW YORK (JTA) – When the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles came out with a strongly worded statement last week opposing the Iran nuclear deal, it became one of a handful of federations across the country to stake out a clear position on the agreement. “This Iran deal… Read more »
University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center researchers are seeking community input on a clinical trial that requires qualified patients to be enrolled when they are unconscious and unable to give consent. This study may improve care for all cardiac arrest patients. Cardiac arrest is a major public health issue,… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) – Admit it: You might be wrong. Yes, you have a strong view about whether the nuclear deal signed with Iran last week will spell catastrophe for Israel, or whether it’s the best of a range of bad options for dealing with Iran’s apparent pursuit of a nuclear weapon.… Read more »
Israelis calling for the release of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard during President Obama’s visit to Jerusalem in 2013. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Obama administration is preparing to release Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard in the next few months, the Wall Street Journal reported. Pollard may be released in the next few weeks or by Nov. 21, the date he is officially eligible for parole under rules in place… Read more »
Editor’s note: If you live in Southern Arizona and apply for the “Under 30 Change-the-World” prize, please contact the AJP and tell us about your project. NEW YORK, July 24 – Calling all young Jewish and Israeli social entrepreneurs: here is your chance to help change the world while competing for… Read more »
Vice President Joe Biden delivering remarks at the Good Jobs Green Jobs National Conference in Washington, D.C., April 13, 2015. This week he beseeched about a thousand Jewish leaders in a phone call on the Iran nuclear deal. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) WASHINGTON (JTA) – Vice President Joe Biden had an intimate phone call this week with about a thousand Jewish leaders, beseeching, teaching and preaching the Iran nuclear deal. Biden’s imploring hourlong call on Monday typified how personal the campaign for and against the Iran nuclear deal is becoming. President… Read more »
Theodore Bikel attending a film festival in Hollywood, California, April 25, 2013. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Theodore Bikel, an actor and folk singer who was recognized in 1997 with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, has died at 91. Bikel, who won fame playing Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof,” doing more performances of the role than any… Read more »
Carol Kestler, 74, died July 17, 2015. A longtime resident of Tucson, Mrs. Kestler was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. She was the founder and executive director of Arts Genesis, an organization that made art instruction available in less privileged schools. She was a widely known as a Judaic teacher… Read more »
