TEL AVIV (JTA) — Two winning Israeli mixed martial arts fighters donned Jewish ritual fringes and kippahs following their victory in a competition in Israel. Elazar Tariku and Almog Shay are both observant Jews who wear traditional Jewish garb in daily life. As each of their victories were announced on Nov. 11, with the referee…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Members and supporters of the Women of the Wall organization were subjected to body searches at the entrance to the Western Wall Plaza. The women also were disturbed Thursday during their monthly prayer service marking the start of the new Jewish month by haredi Orthodox women at the site who loudly blew whistles….
(JTA) — President Barack Obama met with four of the recent American Nobel Prize laureates, including two Jews, but Bob Dylan did not make an appearance. The winners of the award — physics laureates Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz, economics sciences laureate Oliver Hart and chemistry laureate Fraser Stoddart — visited the White House Wednesday. All…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s new ambassador to Turkey has arrived in the country’s capital to take up his post, five years after Israel’s last envoy was expelled from the country. Eitan Naeh reportedly speaks fluent Turkish, though he addressed reporters in English upon landing in Turkey on Thursday. “I am very happy to be back…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli synagogues and communities will mark Accessibility Shabbat to call attention to the needs of the disabled community within Jewish tradition and in Jewish institutions. The event this weekend, launched by the Israel-based Tzohar Rabbinical Organization, coincides with International Day of Persons with Disability, marked on Dec. 3. The weekend event will focus on…
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt urged the organization’s leading activists to counter what he said was an “organized, concerted effort” to delegitimize the group. The 900-word email sent Wednesday was a bid to counter what has been at times a fierce assault on the venerable civil rights group for its lead role…
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Elie Wiesel’s son excoriated the rhetoric and policies associated with President-elect Donald Trump, but also cautioned Americans to respect each other however deep the political divide. “He believed strongly in the role of this museum and broadcasting the dangers of viewing the other with distrust and suspicion,” Elisha Wiesel said Wednesday evening…
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Outgoing Secretary of State John Kerry signaled in a speech that the Obama administration was still considering action on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in its final days, although it might fall short of a direct intervention on the issue. There’s no way to “force-feed” peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Kerry said in a lengthy speech delivered Tuesday…
Austria’s most infamous son, Adolf Hitler, is rarely mentioned in his home country. So it came as a shock to many when presidential candidate Alexander Van der Bellen reached into a folder during a recent live TV debate and produced a photo montage including two images of the Fuehrer. The former Greens leader was complaining…
– President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey accused Israel of restricting Muslim worship while calling on all Muslims to embrace the Palestinian cause and protect Jerusalem. Erdogan made the call to Muslims on Tuesday during public remarks at the Symposium of Jerusalem Platform in Istanbul. A Turkish government document sent to JTA summarized his remarks….
— The Israeli Knesset has issued a new dress code, banning visitors and employees from wearing miniskirts and short dresses. The rules were based on an earlier version and were “intended to clarify, as much as possible, the ambiguity that existed in the past — while expressing sensitivity and attempting not to hurt the feelings of…
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