Leader of the Zionist Union faction Isaac Herzog speaking to foreign press in Jerusalem, Feb. 24, 2015. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Isaac Herzog paces slowly up and down the stage, one hand in his suit pocket, a slight smile forming through his slender lips. Quietly, his heavy breath audible through the microphone, the center-left candidate for prime minister runs down a detailed a list of policy… Read more »
The following is a transcript of the address Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered to Congress on March 3, 2015. The text was provided by the Prime Minister’s Office. Speaker of the House John Boehner, President Pro Tem Senator Orrin Hatch, Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, And House Majority… Read more »
(JTA) – In his address to Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued that the proposed nuclear deal being negotiated with Iran will lead inexorably to a nuclear-armed Iran and war in the Middle East. “This deal has two major concessions: One, leaving Iran with a vast nuclear program,… Read more »
Some of the tens of thousands in Moscow protesting the murder of Boris Nemtsov, March 1, 2015. (Alexander Aksakov/Getty Images)
(JTA) — During the past two years, Dima Zicer has skipped several political rallies opposing the chauvinistic policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin. A Jewish scholar of education from St. Petersburg, Zicer, 55, has limited hope for change in a country that is ranked 148th in the Press Freedom Index and where several… Read more »
Yair Lapid presenting his Yesh Atid party's platform at a news conference in Tel Aviv, March 2, 2015. (Ben Kelmer/FLASH90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — The key word in Yair Lapid’s political vocabulary might be “but.” His Yesh Atid party is not right-wing, he says, but it isn’t left-wing either. He wants to withdraw from the West Bank, but disavows both a unilateral pullout and bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. He wants… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the AIPAC policy conference a day before his scheduled speech to Congress, March 2, 2015. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – For all its focus on Iran, AIPAC can’t seem to get away from the controversy surrounding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s impending speech to Congress. Speaking to attendees Sunday at the launch of the largest-ever annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, CEO Howard… Read more »
Leonard Nimoy, circa 1980. (Larry D. Moore/Wikimedia Commons)
(JTA) -- As a struggling young actor in the early 1950s, Leonard Nimoy, inspired by the rebirth of the Jewish state and childhood memories of Zionist rallies in Boston Garden, considered making aliyah to join Habimah, Israel's national theater. Upon cooler reflection on the huge language barrier he would face,… Read more »
(JTA) — Leonard Nimoy, the actor best known for his role as Spock on “Star Trek,” died Friday morning at his home in Los Angeles. The cause of death was end-stage chronic pulmonary disease, the New York Times reported. He was 83. Nimoy’s Spock has proved to be one… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s congressional address and its biggest-ever annual conference, AIPAC wants to keep the focus squarely on Iran and the traditionally bipartisan nature of American support for Israel. Good luck with that. Tensions between Democrats and the Israeli prime minister are… Read more »
U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice, shown addressing Jewish leaders during the National Leadership Assembly for Israel in July 2014, called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming speech to Congress "destructive." (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told top Senate Democrats he regretted that his planned address to the U.S. Congress is being perceived as partisan, as President Barack Obama’s top security adviser said the speech was “destructive.” Netanyahu wrote Tuesday to decline an invitation from Sens. Dick… Read more »
Eating disorders are associated with a higher rate of mortality than any other mental illness, a fact that may not be widely known among the general population. As many as 20 percent of people suffering from anorexia will prematurely die from complications related to their disorder, according to a… Read more »
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has surrounded himself with foreign policy advisors who have worked for his father and brother as he eyes a run for the presidency. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) WASHINGTON (JTA) — As clearly as Jeb Bush has stated that he does not want his foreign policy chops assessed against that of his brother — or his father — his choice in advisers has only made things murkier. Of 21 advisers to the former Florida governor and putative… Read more »
Students at Blich High School celebrating the victory of the center-left Zionist Union in the school's mock elections, Feb. 22, 2015. (Ben Sales) RAMAT GAN, Israel (JTA) — When Isaac Herzog learned that his Zionist Union party had won the election with 32 percent of the vote, he posted a triumphant status update on Facebook. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had failed, Herzog wrote on Sunday, and vowed that his center-left party would… Read more »
(JTA) — As a longtime promoter of Jewish-Muslim dialogue in Denmark, Naveed Baig is no stranger to Copenhagen’s Great Synagogue. The imam at the capital’s Danish Islamic Center, Baig, 39, has on numerous occasions sat under the structure’s gold-and-white ceiling meeting with people he calls his “Jewish brethren” to… Read more »
"Beshert" by Lisa Mishler “L’Chayim — To Life,” an exhibit of new mixed-media work by local artist Lisa Mishler, is on display at the Tucson Jewish Community Center Fine Art Gallery through March 26. Rabbi Stephanie Aaron asked Mishler to paint this series inspired by the stories of Mishler’s parents, Holocaust survivors and… Read more »
WASHINGTON (Washington Jewish Week via JTA) — Don’t make the enemy of your enemy your friend. That’s the message some lawmakers hope to convey to the Obama administration as they consider its request for a war authorization to combat ISIS. Concerns about how best to shape such an authorization… Read more »
Rabbi Barry Freundel, left, with his lawyer, Dmitriy Shapiro, outside the Washington courthouse where he pleaded guilty to 52 misdemeanor counts of voyeurism for spying on women at his Orthodox synagogue's mikvah, Feb. 19, 2015. (Dmitriy Shapiro / Washington Jewish Week) WASHINGTON (JTA/Washington Jewish Week) — Rabbi Barry Freundel, the former spiritual leader at a prominent Washington synagogue, pleaded guilty to 52 counts of misdemeanor voyeurism. The plea Thursday means that Freundel could be sentenced to a maximum penalty of 52 years in prison and ordered to pay tens of… Read more »
A weekly Jewish sobriety group will start on Tuesday, Feb. 24 from 7:30-9 p.m. at Congregation Bet Shalom, 3881 E. River Road. Group facilitator David Mack, who’s Jewish, notes that the group isn’t part of Alcoholics Anonymous, but will act as a similar support group for Jewish participants with… Read more »
Steve Solomon in “Cannoli, Latkes & Guilt ... the therapy continues” Invisible Theatre is bringing award-winning author/actor Steve Solomon back to Tucson in a new comedy, “Cannoli, Latkes & Guilt … the therapy continues.” The new show features such characters as Uncle Willie, stuttering Cousin Bob, demented Cousin Kenny, Steve’s new therapist Cousin Sal (and Sal’s parole officer). It combines… Read more »
Hadassah Southern Arizona will hold a Hamantashen High Tea for men, women and children on Sunday, March 1 at 3 p.m. at Congregation Bet Shalom. Costumes are optional. Entertainment will be provided by The Gatekeepers, a musical family from Ironwood Hill Church. One of the group leaders is John… Read more »
