— A group of Ethiopians who claim Jewish descent will arrive in Israel on Sunday, fulfilling a promise that was first approved by Israel in 2013 but put on hold due to budgetary constraints. The 78 Ethiopians, known as Falash Mura, are among a community of 9,000 who have been waiting in the African country for Israel to end its budget impasse….
Donald Trump has backed away from a total ban on Muslims entering the United States, vice presidential running mate Mike Pence said on Thursday, a shift from one of the Republican presidential candidate’s most provocative proposals. Trump’s call last December for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” followed an Islamic…
— Czech Jews protested the naming of a children’s volleyball team after the poison that Nazis used to kill Jews and Roma in gas chambers during the Holocaust. The team Cyklon B – the Czech-language transliteration for the Zyklon B pesticide that the Nazis used — participated recently in a Prague tournament featuring teams from…
— Rosie O’Donnell, who has been feuding publicly with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for a decade, bumped into his daughter Ivanka Trump in New York City. The two women reportedly ran into each other on Wednesday night at the trendy Nobu Japanese restaurant in Manhattan. O’Donnell tweeted about the chance encounter, wishing Ivanka, who…
It took a while. But Republican casino mogul Sheldon Adelson finally reached his natural position – as a top election year megadonor. According to a Washington Post report, which tallied political giving through the end of August, Sheldon and Miriam Adelson are now ranked the third largest donors to super PACs, with $21.5 million already…
— A federal lawsuit filed in Southern California against a local Chabad calls for the halting of kapparot, an annual pre-Yom Kippur ritual in which a chicken is swung from its legs and then slaughtered. The lawsuit filed Sept. 26 in Santa Ana District Court against the Chabad of Irvine and a rabbi who is not…
JERUSALEM — A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck Israel for the second day in a row. The rocket fired on Thursday afternoon triggered the Code Red rocket warning system in communities near the border with Gaza, sending residents scurrying for bomb shelters. The rocket landed in an open area in a southern Israeli…
— The new president of FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, said he would make finding a resolution to the conflict over West Bank Israeli soccer teams “a priority.” Gianni Infantino was elected to serve a three-year term as head of FIFA in February. “This is one of my priorities and our priorities. I have not yet…
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas underwent a heart function test in hospital on Thursday and the results were normal, a doctor said, after the 81-year-old leader was taken to the facility without any prior public announcement. Abbas has long been reported to be suffering from heart problems, though Palestinian political officials have never confirmed this. “The…
JERUSALEM — The more Jewish Israel is, the more democratic it will become, the nation’s justice minister wrote in a new journal. The legal system in Israel should strengthen its Jewish nature, Ayelet Shaked wrote in the inaugural issue of the Hebrew language policy journal Hashiloach, published by the Tikva Fund. “When we wish to…
TORONTO — A Canadian university has suspended a professor for promoting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and denying the Holocaust. The University of Lethbridge in Alberta announced late Wednesday that Prof. Anthony Hall has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation into possible violations of Canada’s Human Rights Act. The statement said Hall…
