Carolina Duer, known as "The Turk," defended her boxing title Nov. 12 in Buenos Aires. (Facebook) BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — In many ways, Carolina Raquel Duer is a typical middle-class Jewish kid from Buenos Aires. She attended a Jewish day school, spent time working and traveling in Israel and celebrated her Bat Mitzvah at a Conservative synagogue. But when she stepped into the ring… Read more »
Leo Bretholz, a Holocaust survivor, testifying at a House Foreign Relations Committee hearing on allowing lawsuits to go ahead against SNCF, the French national railroad, for its role in deporting Jews to death camps, Nov. 16, 2011. Bretholz fled from such a transport. (Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans) WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. House of Representatives again is considering Holocaust compensation legislation that has pit survivors against some leading Jewish organizations. The House Foreign Affairs Committee heard testimony Wednesday on a bill that would make it easier for claimants to make their case against Holocaust-era insurers in… Read more »
Philadelphia (Jewish Exponent) — Rabbi David Ostrich, who leads the lone congregation in State College, Pa., couldn’t bring himself to sermonize last Shabbat on the scandal that’s on everyone’s mind. For one thing, it’s all too raw and too much remains unknown, said the religious leader of Congregation Brit… Read more »
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, shown campaigning in Iowas on Nov. 14, 2011, has raised concerns among pro-Israel officials for proposing a policy on foreign aid that would have recipients make their case every year. (IowaPolitics via Creative Commons) WASHINGTON (JTA) — “Starting from zero,” the foreign assistance plan touted by leading Republican candidates at a debate, is getting low marks, and not just from Democrats and the foreign policy community. Pro-Israel activists and fellow Republicans also have concerns. Texas Gov. Rick Perry introduced the plan during the… Read more »
A derogatory exchange about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu between French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, and President Obama, shown during the U.N. General Assembly in New York, has sparked debate, Sept. 21, 2011. (Official White House photo by Samantha Appleton, via Creative Commons) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Does Nicolas Sarkozy really hate Benjamin Netanyahu? Does President Obama really sympathize? And does it really matter? The fleeting, private exchange between the French and U.S. presidents at a summit in Cannes, France, made international headlines, and its meaning is still being parsed by political pundits… Read more »
Dennis Ross, shown speaking at a Washington Institute for Near East Policy conference, and the White House cited his desire to spend more time with his family as the reason for stepping down as President Obama's top Middle East strategist. (Stan Barouh, courtesy of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Dennis Ross got back in the driver’s seat, yet three years later the peace is still missing. Ross, a veteran of four failed presidential pushes for Middle East peace, announced Nov. 10 that he would be leaving his post as President Obama’s top Middle East strategist… Read more »
Ari Zivotofsky and his son Menachem speak to the press outside the U.S. Supreme Court Nov. 8. (Richard Greenberg) The U.S. Supreme Court convened Monday to ponder the implications of a single word that is conspicuously missing from the passport of a 9-year-old boy who was born in Jerusalem. His name is Menachem Binyamin Zivotofsky, the son of Ari and Naomi Siegman Zivotofsky, Americans who made aliyah in… Read more »
Tamir Hendelman World-renowned Israeli jazz pianist Tamir Hendelman and Detroit jazz singer Kathy Kosins will present a concert sponsored by The Heartbeat of Israel and the Tucson Jazz Society on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m. at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort. Hendelman has performed with Barbra Streisand, Natalie Cole… Read more »
Tucson Masterworks Chorale will feature Jewish works during its fall concert, which will be held Sunday, Nov. 20 at 3 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El. “Sacred Service,” by the Swiss-American composer Ernest Bloch, will be the showcase piece of the concert, with Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon as baritone soloist. Bloch… Read more »
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is determined to return to Congress. “I will get stronger. I will return,” Giffords writes in a memoir she co-authored with her husband, Mark Kelly, and Wall Street Journal columnist Jeffrey Zaslow, according to the Associated Press, which got an advance copy. “Gabby: A Story of… Read more »
(New York) — American Jewish World Service (AJWS), an international development and human rights organization, unveiled its new Reverse Hunger campaign last month. The campaign seeks to rally the American Jewish community to challenge and change a critical factor contributing to global hunger — U.S. food aid policy. Developing… Read more »
Southern Arizona congregations and organizations will offer a Global Week of Jewish Learning Nov. 11-17, again expanding on the Global Day of Jewish Learning inaugurated last year in celebration of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz’s completion of his multi-volume Talmud translation. This year’s theme is the unity of the Jewish people… Read more »
Former Duke University basketball star Jon Scheyer, who will be playing pro ball for Maccabi Tel Aviv, at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel following his group aliyah flight, Aug. 30, 2011. (Sasson Tiram) The night after the National Basketball Association season was scheduled to begin, Jon Scheyer, perhaps the best Jewish basketball player of his generation, was in his Tel Aviv apartment talking about Israeli cuisine and hoops in the United States and the Holy Land. “It’s nuts,” he said last week… Read more »
Brenda Landau, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, signs up for the Food Stamp Challenge at the JCRC annual meeting Oct. 27. Waiting their turn are Dani Bregman and Carlos Araujo. (Rebecca Goodman/JFSA) Jose Miranda, 23, was one of 90 people attending the Jewish Community Relations Council Annual Meeting and Food Stamp Challenge Kick-Off on Oct. 27 at Temple Emanu-El. While listening to stories and statistics on hunger in the United States, “I decided to put myself in the shoes of young… Read more »
A new report from the International Atomic Energy Agency found that there is "credible" information suggesting that Iran's nuclear program has military dimensions. Pictured here is a heavy water nuclear reactor near Arak, Iran. (Wikipedia Commons) WASHINGTON (JTA) — The international nuclear watchdog has spoken on Iran, and although its report does not have the smoking gun some had anticipated, it makes a cumulative case damning enough for the Obama administration to ask for increased sanctions. JTA canvassed Washington Iran-watchers on Tuesday afternoon in the… Read more »
Palestinian Authority President Mahmou Abbas welcomes hundreds of Palestinians released as part of the prisoner swap for Gilad Shalit in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Oct. 18. (Yossi Zamir/Flash 90) JERUSALEM (JTA) — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ statehood push at the United Nations may be fizzling, but his supporters insist that he can find a way out of the impasse. “Abu Mazen is a powerful leader and is very persuasive,” said Ahmad Tibi, an Arab member of Israel’s Knesset,… Read more »
Jason Alexander, meets with Israeli President Shimon Peres at Peres' residence in Jerusalem, Oct. 25, 2011. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90/JTA) (JTA) — To those who know him as the lovably neurotic and lazy George Costanza from TV’s “Seinfeld,” there was something comic — if not downright ridiculous — in seeing actor Jason Alexander being asked by an elder statesman of Middle East diplomacy about making peace between Israelis and… Read more »
(Jewish Ideas Daily) — America’s relations with the Arab world have been strained for decades, but the Arab world is not all of a piece. The pre-eminent enemies of Israel and the West, Syria and Iran, are totalitarian. Egypt, since the 1970 death of the nationalist hero-tyrant Gamal Abdel… Read more »
Ava Sarah Keyrallah was born in Paris on Oct. 31, 2011, the day the United Nations celebrated the 7 billionth child being born. (Courtesy Celine Abisror) NEW YORK (JTA) — Could the 7 billionth person on the planet be Jewish? According to the United Nations Population Fund, the Earth welcomed its 7 billionth resident on Oct. 31. Statistically, the newborn was most likely a boy in India or China. The symbolic title was given to Danica… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — They may have scored a victory at UNESCO, but the Palestinians are running into new obstacles on their push for statehood recognition at the United Nations. The effort to pursue the issue at the U.N. Security Council has encountered a stumbling block in Bosnia, where the… Read more »
