Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas meets with European Parliament President Martin Schulz in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Feb. 10, 2014. (Issam Rimawi/Flash 90) (JTA) — When Israeli police found thousands of contraband cell phones in the car of senior Palestinian Authority official Rawhi Fattouh, he was promptly removed from office — for about two months. A consultant to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Fattouh was reinstated in May 2008 after his driver, a… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — On Twitter, pro-Palestinian activists dubbed it “DivestApalooza.” Student governments at three Southern California public universities all voted on divestment resolutions targeting Israel in a single day. The April 23 votes were part of a surge in student governments at American universities voting on divestment resolutions.… Read more »
Members of the Philadelphia-based "Butterfly Project" perform in Terezin, the very place where the characters they portrayed had been imprisoned during the Holocaust. (Londa Salamon Photography/www.londaphotography.com) PRAGUE (JEWISH EXPONENT) — When the applause faded, the 32 young actors remained on stage in silence. Some of them hugged. They looked at each other, their faces filled with amazement and disbelief — the circle was complete. The Philadelphia-based troupe had brought the words of Terezín’s children back… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Secretary of State John Kerry in Jerusalem on March 31, 2014. (Amos Ben Gershom/Israel Government Press Office/FLASH90) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Now that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have screeched to a halt, U.S. officials are apportioning blame, and a big share is going to Israel. In an interview with Nahum Barnea, a veteran diplomatic affairs writer for the Israeli daily Yediot Achronot, anonymous members of the U.S. negotiating team… Read more »
Haredi Orthodox men studying toward professional degrees at Kemach, a Jerusalem-based organization that guides haredim through study programs and job placement. (Kemach) TEL AVIV (JTA) — When Moshe Friedman turned 31, he made what was for him a radical decision: He left school and launched a start-up. Plenty of Israelis jump from graduate school to the high-tech sector, but for Friedman the leap was longer. A descendant of rabbis, he had… Read more »
One of the professional hazards of columnists today is the temptation to borrow from the wealth of materials available on the Internet without giving proper credit to their authors. I guess that if Moses came down from Mount Sinai today, he would add an 11th commandment: Thou shall not… Read more »
J Street's president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, addresses his group's 2013 national conference in Washington. (Courtesy of J Street) (JTA) — The vote is over, but the debate rages on over the recent rejection of J Street’s application to join the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Depending on where you stand, the 22-17 vote rejecting the application was either about J Street’s own missteps or… Read more »
A Palestinian man walks front of a mural calling for the return of Palestinian refugees on May 14, 2011 in Rafah in southern Gaza during a gathering to mark the 63rd anniversary of what Palestinians call the Nakba, or the "catastrophe" of Israel's founding. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash 90) JERUSALEM (JTA) — The State of Israel is celebrating its 66th birthday. For Israelis, Jews around the world and all supporters of Israel, this is a joyous occasion. By and large, even Israelis who are critical of some of their country’s policies nevertheless celebrate its remarkable accomplishments and contributions… Read more »
Australian protesters rallying against Dutch politician Geert Wilders in Sydney, Feb. 22, 2013. (Brendon Thomas/Getty Images) THE HAGUE, Netherlands (JTA) — Standing in front of a giant flag, a politician asks his excited followers whether their country should have greater or fewer Moroccans. When they are done chanting “fewer,” the speaker, Geert Wilders of the far-right Dutch Party for Freedom, promises his listeners that he… Read more »
More than 5,000 Israelis are on a list of people restricted from marrying based on prohibitions in traditional Jewish law. (Ekaterina Lin/Shutterstock) JERUSALEM (JTA) — When she decided to split up from her husband, she went before an Orthodox rabbinical court and, after two perfunctory hearings and little discussion, received a religious writ of divorce. It was only months later that the woman learned that the court had flagged her as… Read more »
Might the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team someday be lifting the nBA championship trophy, as its players and others did here after winning the 2012 Israeli Basketball Super League title? (Flash 90) BALTIMORE (JTA) – Maccabi Tel Aviv reportedly is heading back to the United States this fall for its first exhibition games against NBA teams in five years – but greater developments appear to be in the works for the iconic franchise and Israeli basketball. For one, how about NBA… Read more »
Youth from Ioannina's Greek community, in traditional dress, hold candles to be lit in memory of more than 500 children who were deported to Auschwitz. (Gavin Rabinowitz) IOANNINA, Greece (JTA) — When the Jews of Ioannina gathered in their whitewashed-stone synagogue over the weekend, it was to commemorate 70 years since the Nazis destroyed their community. But the March 30 gathering also served to highlight a source of present-day sadness: the withering of the unique 2,300… Read more »
PUERTO IGUAZU, Argentina (JTA) — The youthful group of 60 drew their chairs around tables strewn with jars of markers and the occasional Rubik’s Cube, nearby chalkboards at the ready for jotting down big ideas. The conference hall was suffused with a can-do vibe that wouldn’t have seemed out… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — J Street wasn’t welcomed under the umbrella, but it hasn’t been left out alone in the rain. J Street’s failed effort to join the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations showed that many in the Jewish community still regard the dovish Israel policy group… Read more »
Bebe Fischer, Ina Shivack, Hilary Lyons, Billie Maas (Patrick J. McArdle) Arizona Onstage Productions is holdinga contest for two monologues to be performed in “25 Questions for a Jewish Mother,” by Kate Moira Ryan and Judy Gold, which will run for three weekends beginning May 9at the Temple of Music and Art Cabaret Theater. Email your essay, “My best memory… Read more »
(JTA) — Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, was banned for life by the NBA and fined $2.5 million for making racist comments. Under the punishment laid down Tuesday by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Sterling may not associate with the team or the league after it… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The best move for the Obama administration on the Middle East peace front may be to take a few steps back. That’s what some observers are advising in the wake of the collapse of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The Palestinian unity talks mean that President Obama and U.S.… Read more »
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas meets with journalists in Ramallah on April 22, 2014, a day before his Fatah faction signed a reconciliation agreement with the militant group Hamas. (Palestinian Press Office via Getty Images) JERUSALEM (JTA) — Nine months of negotiations were supposed to propel Israelis and Palestinians into a future of peace. Instead, the collapse of talks is threatening to make the future look much like the past. Israel’s decision last week to suspend negotiations — a day after the signing of… Read more »
Head of the Hamas government Ismail Haniyeh (right) and senior Fatah official Azzam Al-Ahmed (left) raise their hands together at a news conference that announced a reconciliation agreement between the rival Palestinian factions in Gaza City on April 23, 2014. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90) Past attempts by the Islamist terrorist group Hamas and the secular Fatah movement to jointly rule the Palestinian territories have failed. After the latest pledge by the rival factions to unite, opinions vary on what the accord will mean for the Palestinians, for Israel, and for the future of… Read more »
Pope John Paul II places a letter between the stones of Jerusalem's Western Wall on March 26, 2000. (Amos Ben Gershom/Israel Government Press Office via Getty Images) (JTA) — Popes John XXIII and John Paul II are being declared saints of the Roman Catholic church on April 27, the day that is also the eve of Yom Hashoah. It’s a coincidence but a notable one. These two post-Holocaust pontiffs revolutionized relations between Catholics and Jews, fostering… Read more »
