(JTA) – On July 19, Israel’s right-wing coalition government passed, by a narrow 62-55 margin, its controversial nation-state law, which declared Israel as the “nation-state of the Jewish people.” Scores of liberal critics denounced the measure as an unnecessary and racist provocation, while defenders called it a statement of… Read more »
Tagged apartheid
OP-ED What Jewish students can, and should, learn from Israel’s critics
(JTA) — As university professors, as committed Jews and as friends, we were puzzled by Arnold Eisen’s recent op-ed for JTA, “Jewish pride on campus is under siege. Here’s what your kids can do to fight back.” It is not because we disagree with his positions on Zionism, on Israel and Palestine,… Read more »
Nelson Mandela, 95, first democratic president of South Africa, was close to country’s Jews
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (JTA) — In the early 1940s, at a time when it was virtually impossible for a South African of color to secure a professional apprenticeship, the Jewish law firm Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman gave a young black man a job as a clerk. It was… Read more »
In face of desperate African poverty, Jewish woman provides a beacon of hope
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (JTA) — Two years after moving to Zimbabwe from South Africa 20 years ago, Ruth Feigenbaum noticed that her gardener, James Phiri, was losing weight and looking ill. With the help of a physician friend, Phiri was diagnosed: Like nearly one in seven Zimbabweans, he was… Read more »