— A leader of the Druze population of the Golan Heights disputed the assertion of a United Nations committee that accused Israel of imposing economic and social hardships on his community. Dulan abu-Saleh, the mayor of Majdal Shams, the largest Druze town in the Golan, told Makor Rishon that the U.N. Economic and Social Council’s recent statement…
— A rabbi who was extradited back to Israel from South Africa was indicted for several sexual assaults, including of a teenage girl. Rabbi Eliezer Berland, 79, was arrested in April in Johannesburg and extradited to Israel earlier this month prior to his indictment at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court Friday, Army Radio reported. Berland, who…
— The French education ministry began investigating a Parisian high school teacher who allegedly shared anti-Semitic conspiracy theories with her pupils on Facebook. CRIF, the umbrella group of French Jewish communities, complained to the ministry about the teacher earlier this week, according to a report Thursday in the group’s newsletter. It did not name the female teacher…
– Jewish immigration from France to Israel decreased by 32 percent in the first half of 2016 compared to the corresponding period last year. The decrease in French immigration is part of a 10-point drop in overall Jewish immigration to Israel, or aliyah, according to a Jewish Agency for Israel interim report obtained by JTA….
Seated on a bench near the gate to the Auschwitz death camp site in Poland, Pope Francis prayed in silence on Friday in tribute to the 1.5 million people, most of them Jews, killed there by Nazi occupiers during World War Two. The third pope to visit Auschwitz and the first not to have lived…
— A New Jersey township is calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate haredi Orthodox community leaders for alleged “blockbusting,” or trying to pressure large numbers of longtime homeowners into selling their property to Orthodox Jews. The incident is the latest example of tensions between a large and growing haredi Orthodox community in…
Prosecutors dropped their case against a man granted a retrial on charges that he killed Washington intern Chandra Levy in 2001, a death that contributed to a congressman’s downfall, authorities said on Thursday. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the U.S. capital asked a judge to dismiss charges against Ingmar Guandique, a Salvadoran immigrant who was…
n Israeli mayor from the Galilee apologized for causing offense by saying that he does not want Arabs to use swimming pools of predominantly-Jewish towns and cities. Speaking on the Kol Rega radio station Thursday, Motti Dotan, head of the Lower Galilee Regional Council, said: “I don’t hate Arabs, but I don’t want them at…
Addressing her resignation as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee for the first time, Debbie Wasserman Schultz accused Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump of treason. Referring to Trump’s request Tuesday that Russia uncover emails deleted by Hillary Clinton, Wasserman Schultz said Thursday the statement was “treasonous, it’s seditious, it’s unacceptable.” Trump made the comment after…
An Israeli professor who has refused to grant his wife a religious divorce for more than four years was arrested in Antwerp, Belgium. Oded Guez, who was a physicist at Bar-Ilan University, was arrested this week on suspicion of using a forged passport and taking on a false identity, Ynet reported. He is accused of…
A Connecticut man with a large stash of weapons in his home has been indicted on charges of threatening online to kill Jews. Kendall Sullivan, 50, of Stamford, who allegedly threatened to “slaughter” Jews and “burn their Synagogue to the ground,” was charged Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Bridgeport, Reuters reported. Sullivan made…
