News

Palestinians in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah, faced off against Israeli soldiers during their weekly protest on the same day that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas submitted a bid for Palestinian statehood to the United Nations, Sept. 23, 2011. (Isasm Rimawi/Flash 90/JTA)

RAMALLAH, West Bank (JTA) — A larger-than-life sky-blue chair with the word “Palestine” dominates the center of Manara Square in downtown Ramallah. The Palestinian flag, a national symbol once banned by Israel, flies everywhere. Long banners of flags crisscross the square, huge flags decorate the sides of buildings, and… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Mahmoud Abbas outlined a vision for an independent Palestine that hewed to the two-state formula but also revived rhetoric that hearkened back to an era of Palestinian belligerence. Shortly after concluding his speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Friday, the Palestinian Authority president was… Read more »

President Obama, meeting with his Brazilian counterpart, Dilma Roussef, at the United Nations, is canvassing world leaders to oppose a bid by the Palestinians for statehood recognition, Sept. 20, 2011. (Office of Brazilian president)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Was it a speech to help launch his campaign for re-election, or an address to bury hopes for immediate Palestinian statehood recognition? Both assessments marked the immediate reaction to President Obama’s speech Wednesday at the United Nations General Assembly, and there was ammunition for both arguments.… Read more »

Diana Golbi performed in new york on behalf of ELEM, a nonprofit Israeli organization that helps "distressed youth" from whcih she herself benefited in her earlier teens. (Courtesy ELEM)

NEW YORK (JTA) — For her first visit to New York and the United States, Diana Golbi adopted the unofficial uniform of most city dwellers — head-to-toe black. Black shirt, black top and tight black jeans. Her long brown hair was straight and hung past her shoulders. Pointing to… Read more »

VILNIUS, Lithuania (JTA) — Faina Kukliansky entered the theater alone, waved at a few friends and sat down to watch “I Shot My Love,” the Israeli documentary film that kicked off Lithuania’s first gay film festival. Some other Lithuanian Jews, she said, have told her to avoid such events… Read more »

BUDAPEST, Hungary (JTA) — It’s not easy to decipher the complicated trajectory of Jewish life in post-communist Europe. “There are claims and counterclaims about contemporary European Jewish life,” Jonathan Boyd, the executive director of London’s Institute for Jewish Policy Research, said. “At one end of the spectrum there are… Read more »

Congregation M’kor Hayim will hold an orientation for its second Mussar study group on Oct. 4, 7-9 p.m., at Tucson Hebrew Academy, with Rabbi Helen Cohn and facilitator Nan Rubin. The ancient Jewish practice of Mussar, rooted in Jewish texts, is an ethical and spiritual approach to daily life.… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In recent months, the tensions that have characterized relations between the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government have largely receded into the background. The Obama administration is preparing to stand virtually alone with Israel at the United Nations in opposing the Palestinians’ statehood push. A consensus… Read more »

Protests against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, like this one held in June 2011 by the Iran180 group, are expected to be part of the street theater that will accompany this week's happenings at the United Nations. (Iran 180)

NEW YORK (JTA) — With the Palestinians set to submit their bid for statehood as the U.N. General Assembly convenes this week and leaders from around the world descending on New York, there’s going to be a lot going on. Here’s a rundown of what to expect in the… Read more »

Israeli specialists holding their shoes during a demonstration by doctors outside the Barzilai Medical Center in Asheklon, July 26, 2011. (Tsafir Abayov/Flash 90)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Thousands of Israeli doctors spent the last four months engaged in a nationwide strike, using work stoppages, YouTube videos and a final hunger strike by disgruntled medical residents to protest their wages and working hours. Now that the doctors’ strike is over, Israelis are debating whether… Read more »

Asked why we fast on Yom Kippur, the prophet Isaiah responded, “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?” (Isaiah 58:6) Each year, the local Jewish community honors Isaiah with the Project Isaiah High Holidays food drive benefiting the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. This year,… Read more »

After retirement some people say they don’t know how they used to fit work into their busy lives — and understandably so, considering the wide range of adult education classes available in Tucson. The Brandeis National Committee, Tucson Chapter, a non-alumni philanthropic support group of Brandeis University, is offering… Read more »

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the Weintraub Israel Center are encouraging area residents to sign a “Petition Against a Unilaterally Declared Palestinian State” created by the Israel Action Network, a joint project of the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. The… Read more »

Richard Albin

Temple Emanu-El will hold a free health awareness seminar, “Prostate Cancer: Every Man Needs a Plan,” with Richard J. Ablin, Ph.D., D.Sc. (Hon.), on Sunday, Sept. 25 at 9:30 a.m. Ablin is a research professor of immunobiology and pathology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and president… Read more »

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (P.K.Weis/southwest photobank.com)

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona has nominated Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and Rabbi Stephanie Aaron for the Third Annual Jewish Community Hero Awards. Created by The Jewish Federations of North America, the awards project uses social media such as Facebook and Twitter to bring national attention to local leaders,… Read more »

Rabbi Stefano di Mauro has jump-started a tiny Jewish community in southern Sicily. (Alex Weisler)

On her deathbed, Salvatore Zurzolo’s grandmother confided a long-held secret: Their family was Jewish.… Read more »

Mervyn Danker

To establish its independence, Israel had to win a war against the combined might of the Arab nations in 1948. The Arab failure to destroy the nascent Jewish state became known, in Orwellian Arab vernacular, as “Nakba,” a catastrophe. For the next 20 years, neither Jordan nor any of… Read more »

Egyptian demonstrators attack Israel's embassy in Cairo, Sept. 9, 2011 (Maggie Osama/Creative Commons)

Retired Israeli Air Force pilot Uri Dromi remembers the day 34 years ago when Egyptian President Anwar Sadat landed in Israel to tell the Israeli people that he was ready to make peace. Dromi, who had flown missions in the 1967 Six-Day War against Egypt, had been assigned to… Read more »

Birthright Israel staff member Jeremy Lichtman, left, with Tucsonan Peter Ruiz at the Western Wall

It wasn’t easy for 24-year-old Peter Ruiz to venture to Israel with other young adults, but it was more difficult for him to leave. Ruiz, who has cerebral palsy, toured Israel from June 13 to 23 on a Taglit- Birthright Israel trip. His parents, Berna­dette and Joaquin Ruiz, were… Read more »

Noam Shalit, right, with Knesset member Michael Eitan during a protest on behalf of Shalit’s captive son Gilad outside the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem on Gilad’s 25th birthday, Aug. 28, 2011. (Miriam Alister/Flash90)

Noam Shalit, the father of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, wants his son’s plight to be part of the discussion of Palestinian statehood at the United Nations in September. In his view, Shalit’s release should be a precondition of any vote at the United Nations on recognition of a… Read more »