News

Jerusalem Pride Parade murder sparks calls for change to laws — and pushback, too

Some of the participants mourning at a Jerusalem vigil for Shira Banki, the teenager who died three days after being stabbed at the Jerusalem gay pride parade, Aug. 2, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
August 4, 2015 / Ben Sales, JTA

TEL AVIV (JTA) — The murder of a 16-year old girl at Jerusalem’s gay pride parade has sparked calls for LGBT-rights legislation — as well as pushback from those who oppose it. Shira Banki died Sunday after being stabbed while marching in the parade on Thursday night. Five others were wounded… Read more »

Get your kosher dogs at Dodger Stadium!
August 3, 2015 / Lisa Keys, JTA

(JTA) — The Los Angeles Dodgers may never achieve the lore of their brethren in Brooklyn, but now at least they’ve brought a bit of Brooklyn to the West Coast — in the form of hot dogs. Earlier this week, Dodger Stadium opened its first kosher hot dog stand,… Read more »

How music and meditation jazzed up Jewish life on N.Y.’s Fire Island
August 3, 2015 / Batya Ungar-Sargon, JTA

(JTA) — It was Friday evening and the cantor, wearing a leopard-print top and gladiator sandals — including one with a with a tambourine affixed to it — greeted the congregants at Shabbat services with a smile. She encouraged them to pick up the percussion instruments left on the… Read more »

After Palestinian baby’s death, Israelis say condemnation not enough

Tali Mizrahi, a member of the anti-racism group Light Tag, visiting the home of a Palestinian baby allegedly killed by Jewish arsonists. (Ben Sales)
August 3, 2015 / Ben Sales, JTA

DUMA, West Bank (JTA) — The smell of stale smoke wafted from the burnt concrete home now marked by a banner bearing the grinning face of a baby and, in bold red letters, a name: Ali Saad Dawabsha. Some 100 Jewish visitors trudged hesitantly under the banner and into the… Read more »

Obama rallies supporters against ‘billionaire’ opponents of Iran deal

President Barack Obama talks with President Hassan Rouhani of Iran during a phone call in the Oval Office, Sept. 27, 2013. (Pete Souza/Getty Images)
July 31, 2015 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In a phone call with supporters on Thursday, President Barack Obama characterized opponents of the Iran deal as being backed by “billionaires” and urged those listening in to win over “squishy” lawmakers considering opposing the deal. Opponents “would be opposed to any deal with Iran,” Obama told… Read more »

Jewish terror draws Netanyahu’s focus homeward

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visiting the hospitalized family of a West Bank Palestinian baby killed in an arson attack, July 31, 2015. (Flash90)
July 31, 2015 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

  Updated 8.5.15 WASHINGTON (JTA) – Ahead of what may be the toughest diplomatic battle of his career, a final bid to kill the Iran nuclear deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suddenly found himself facing down a terrorist threat – apparently from Jews. The flow of Iran… Read more »

McSally to join lawmakers meeting Netanyahu in Israel
July 31, 2015 /

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 »

News Analysis: With polls of U.S. Jews on Iran at odds, whom to believe?

Hundreds of people protesting against the Iran nuclear deal on July 26, 2015, in Los Angeles, California. (Peter Duke)
July 31, 2015 / Uriel Heilman, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — There have been three major polls of American Jews since the announcement of the nuclear deal between world powers and Iran — by the L.A. Jewish Journal, The Israel Project and J Street— all with significantly different results. Two show U.S. Jewish support for the Iran nuclear… Read more »

Netanyahu to speak on Iran nuclear agreement in live webcast
July 31, 2015 /

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 »

Six marchers stabbed at Jerusalem gay pride parade
July 30, 2015 /

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 »

At Berlin’s European Maccabi Games, the past is ever-present

American soccer player Catie Chase at the European Maccabi Games in Berlin showing photos of her late grandparents, who survived the Holocaust, July 28, 2015. (Hillel Kuttler)
July 30, 2015 / Hillel Kuttler, JTA

BERLIN (JTA) – Seventy-nine summers after Marty Glickman’s Olympics uniform was rendered as useless as a jilted bride’s wedding dress, his daughter Nancy wore the same uniform to light the cauldron that officially opened the European Maccabi Games here. Her late father’s removal from the U.S. track team hours… Read more »

Jewish women’s eggs are hot commodity, but are they ‘kosher’?
July 30, 2015 / Suzanne Pollak
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 »

Ukraine fiscal crisis leads to major setback for homegrown Jewish philanthropy

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)
July 29, 2015 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

(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 »

Pollard’s wait not over: Fight to bring him to Israel will outlast his release

Israelis calling for the release of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard in Jerusalem, March 21, 2013. (Liar Mizrahi/Getty Images)
July 29, 2015 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

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 »

Israelis say Pollard release won’t change stance on Iran

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)
July 28, 2015 / Ben Sales, JTA

  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 »

Israel’s U.S. envoy raps Huckabee on Holocaust-Iran deal analogy

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)
July 28, 2015 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

  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 »

Jewish lawmakers shut out noise as they consider Iran nuclear deal

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)
July 28, 2015 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

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 »

Jewish groups stake out positions on Iran deal, but whom do they represent?

Hundreds turned out for a protest in Los Angeles against the Iran nuclear deal, July 26, 2015. (Peter Duke)
July 28, 2015 / Uriel Heilman, JTA

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 »