
Ron Kampeas is the former Washington bureau chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Ron Kampeas is the former Washington bureau chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
(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 said Israel’s settlement activity was a principal…
(JTA) — A pox on both your houses, but when you want a cure, we’re still here. That is the message the Obama administration is sending Israel and the Palestinians amid the deepening crisis in peace efforts. “What we haven’t seen is, frankly, the kind of political will to actually make tough decisions. And that’s…
(JTA) — J Street has the backing of the major Jewish domestic policy umbrella organization in its bid to join the major foreign policy umbrella organization. The ballot next week of the 50 or so constituent groups of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is secret, but the Jewish Council for Public…
Alan Gross did not warn his family he was launching a hunger strike, but hearing the news, they understood why: The U.S. government subcontractor languishing in a Cuban prison feels forgotten. Gross, a 64-year-old Jewish father of two from Potomac, Md., is currently serving a 15-year sentence in Cuba for “crimes against the state.” He…
(JTA) — The shooting rampage at two Jewish institutions in suburban Kansas City illustrates the dilemma of how best to protect Jewish institutions from the threat of deadly violence by extremists acting alone. “Lone wolves are really by far the most dangerous phenomenon. They are vastly more difficult to stop in advance of their actions,”…
(JTA) — For 20 or so minutes last week, the issue of religious freedom was cast as a struggle between working women and Muslim and Jewish butchers. The pointed questions posed March 25 to the Obama administration’s chief lawyer by three U.S. Supreme Court justices got to the heart of whether businesses have the same…
(JTA) — Scarlett Johansson, fresh out of her SodaStream battles, declined to attend this year’s annual American Israel Political Affairs Committee policy conference. She’s in Paris, picking up an honorary Celeste award and promoting her latest releases,. She kept appearing at the conference though, after a fashion. Johansson featured prominently in AIPAC’s showcase of Israel’s…
(JTA) — You’ve got your rousing church choir, your multi-denominational trio of rabbis quoting Torah, your montages of Israelis and Palestinians coming together and, above all, your pleas to please, please, please be nice to one another. Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, Jew, Christian, black, white, Hispanic – the American Israel Public Affairs Committee wants you…