TEL AVIV (JTA) — Stav Shaffir was angry. The 29-year-old firebrand is known for her outbursts, which have gotten her kicked out of multiple Knesset hearings in the past year. But when she rose in the Knesset on Jan. 21 to answer Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett’s charge… Read more »
Tagged HEADLINES
What does the International Criminal Court action mean for Israel?
WASHINGTON (JTA) — On Jan. 16, the International Criminal Court prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, launched a “preliminary examination into the situation in Palestine.” Here is a review of what that means based on interviews with experts on international law and statements by the ICC and Israeli and U.S. officials. Has… Read more »
Nisman mystery: Hezbollah, Argentine gov’t fingered in death of AMIA prosecutor
(JTA) – The mysterious death of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman seems ripped straight out of a crime thriller. Nisman — the indefatigable prosecutor collecting evidence of culpability in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people — was found dead in his… Read more »
Meet Stefan Zweig, the Jewish novelist who inspired ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’
(JTA) —Wes Anderson’s whimsical film “The Grand Budapest Hotel” was nominated for nine Academy Awards last week, just days after winning the Golden Globe for Best Comedy or Musical. Named one of the best films of the year by several top critics, it could earn Anderson, a director whose… Read more »
What Selma means to the Jews
HANOVER, N.H. (JTA) — The 50th anniversary of the 1965 march at Selma is being commemorated this year with the release of the film “Selma.” Regrettably, the film represents the march as many see it today, only as an act of political protest. But for my father Abraham Joshua… Read more »
First Muslim to run for Jewish Home slate, Anett Haskia is a rarity among Arab-Israelis
PETACH TIKVAH, Israel (JTA) — Outside the Moriah Synagogue in this central Israeli city, boys in ritual fringes and girls in long skirts handed out fliers for the dozens of candidates running in the Jan. 14 primary for the Jewish Home party, a right-wing, modern Orthodox faction. Religious voters… Read more »
In Brussels, Jewish security professionals train for the next attack
BRUSSELS (JTA) — Seventy-two hours after a deadly attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris, dozens of Jewish community officials from across Europe were operating a hectic situation room at a hotel in the Belgian capital. But crisis managers and community leaders were not dealing with the horror unfolding… Read more »
Jewish Federations stand with France’s Jewish community
In the wake of the recent terror attacks in Paris, the Jewish Federations of North America expressed its solidarity with the 500,000-strong French Jewish community, the families and friends of the victims of the Charlie Hebdo shooting and the entire nation of France. JFNA has opened an emergency mailbox… Read more »
French Jewry 101: From Rashi to Dreyfus to Hyper Cacher
(JTA) — Last week’s deadly hostage siege at a kosher supermarket in Paris has French Jews (and some non-Jews) proclaiming “Je suis juif,” or “I am Jewish,” in solidarity with the four people killed in the attack. Who are the Jews of France? Here’s a primer. How many Jews… Read more »
Federation Super Extraordinary Sunday is on its way
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is getting ready for its annual Campaign Super Sunday phone-a-thon and Mitzvah Day on Sunday, Jan. 25, at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. From 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., volunteers can make calls soliciting tax-deductible gifts to the Federation that support Jewish life… Read more »
Or Chadash plans poker tournament and casino night
Congregation Or Chadash will hold a Texas Hold’em poker tournament, plus a dinner and casino night, on Saturday, Feb. 7 at the Tucson Scottish Rite Cathedral, 160 S. Scott Ave. The tournament is limited to 150 players on a first-come, first-served basis. Walk-ins are welcome, unless sold out. The… Read more »
In Focus: Chanukah 1.9.15
Community foundations turn 100
Community foundations are the coolest thing ever … well, you would think so, too, if you had the greatest job in the world. The first community foundation was created in Cleveland in 1914 by Frederick Goff, a local banker, who understood the need for a centralized philanthropic vehicle to… Read more »
Jewish cartoonist Georges Wolinski among 12 dead in Paris shooting
(JTA) — An attack on the Paris headquarters of a French satirical magazine has left at least 12 people dead, including the Jewish caricaturist Georges Wolinski. Two of the reported fatalities in Wednesday’s attack were police officers, according to the French daily newspaper Le Monde. Later reports said that… Read more »
After decades of distance, Japan and Israel establish closer ties
TOKYO (JTA) — Reading his Japanese-language newspaper over breakfast, Rabbi Mendy Sudakevich spotted an ad for a self-help DVD titled “Get rich like the Jews.” “Almost anywhere else in the world, such an ad” — published in several widely read Japanese dailies — “would have been deemed anti-Semitic incitement,”… Read more »
Did Argentina’s president really adopt a Jewish man to prevent him from becoming a werewolf?
(JTA) — Last week, JTA published an unusual item about a werewolf legend that generated headlines worldwide. The item was about Yair Tawil, the first Jewish man adopted as a godson by Argentina’s president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. The adoption took place under a longstanding custom that presidents adopt… Read more »
At memorial for African Hebrew leader, signs of integration and respect
DIMONA, Israel (JTA) — Yitzchok Elefant ascended the stage in his black hat and coat and turned to face an auditorium full of people in flowing white shirts and pants with matching scarves and caps. Standing beneath a banner reading “A tribute to his majesty, our spiritual leader, the… Read more »
Too much democracy can stifle progress, make governing impossible
Some 30 years ago an American friend who is a political scientist, came to Israel for a professional visit. Before he headed back home, I asked him for his verdict on the Israeli political system. He didn’t hesitate: “Too much democracy.” I asked him to explain, and he said:… Read more »
Op-Ed: Golem story warns of dangers of ‘intelligent’ machines
NEW YORK (JTA) — Stephen Hawking is much in the news these days. His personal story, the subject of the recently released film “The Theory of Everything,” is already spoken of as an Oscar contender. Diagnosed in 1963 with the dreaded Lou Gehrig’s disease and given two years to… Read more »
Israel’s nation-state law motion shatters fragile equilibrium
For years, whenever my non-Israeli friends would ask me to explain to them the meaning of the phrase “Israel being a Jewish and democratic state,” I would answer that I needed a week-long seminar to explain that. Indeed, how can a country be a full democracy when it is… Read more »