Four Israelis, including a soldier and a prison officer, were charged on Tuesday with aggravated assault in connection with the death of an Eritrean national, who was shot and beaten after being mistaken for a gunman during an attack in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba on Oct. 18. An Arab citizen of Israel shot…
A senior Israeli official has voiced concern for Jordan’s future stability given encroaching Islamist-led insurgencies in the region, a departure from Israel’s customary reticence about its neighbor and security partner. Jordan, one of two Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with Israel, has largely weathered the upheaval in much of the Middle East over…
The Genesis Philanthropy Group has granted Hillel International $1 million to help the student organization reach out to Russian-speaking Jewish college students in North America, the former Soviet Union, Germany and Israel. The grant will allow Hillel to offer expanded programming for the Russian-speaking Jewish college student population and to increase accessibility for students on…
U.S. ambassador Dan Shapiro met with Israel’s justice minister and expressed reservations about her proposed law requiring NGOs to prominently announce substantial foreign funding. “Ambassador Shapiro sought more information about the draft legislation from the minister, and noted the U.S. government’s concerns on the matter,” the embassy said in a statement describing the meeting Sunday…
An Orthodox synagogue in New Jersey has hired Lila Kagedan, the first Yeshivat Maharat graduate to go by the title “rabbi.” Mount Freedom Jewish Center, in Randolph, New Jersey, announced in a news release Monday that Kagedan is joining its “spiritual leadership team.” The news release did not use the word “rabbi,” instead referring to…
The Federal Court of Canada will consider a lawsuit filed by three filmmakers alleging that a Canadian author and her publisher plagiarized a family history presented in their documentary. Judy Maltz, an Israeli-American journalist, along with Barbara Bird and Richie Sherman, both associate professors of film at Penn State, are suing J.L. Witterick and Penguin…
Prohibitions on civil and non-Orthodox weddings in Israel prevent 660,000 Jewish-Israelis — including 364,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union — from marrying in the Jewish state, according to a nonprofit promoting religious freedom in Israel. Hiddush presented the information in a report Monday to a Knesset conference on “alternatives to marriage through the [Chief]…
Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday including one the military said had tried to stab a soldier, as four months of tensions simmered. The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 21-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli army gunfire during a confrontation between troops and protesters in the town of…
Arthur Obermayer, a Boston-based Jewish philanthropist who honored Germans for preserving local Jewish history, has died. Obermayer died Sunday in Dedham, Massachusetts, at 84. The cause of death was cancer, the family confirmed. A longtime activist in political and Jewish genealogical causes, Obermayer was a co-founder of Meretz USA (now Partners for Progressive Israel) and…
(Dayton Jewish Observer) — After more than eight years of waiting, an Israeli woman was freed from her marriage after an unprecedented campaign to pressure her husband to grant her a Jewish writ of divorce, or get. Adina Porat’s former husband, now known as Eli Shur (he went by David Porat when the couple were…
A left-wing Jewish-Israeli activist who was recorded saying he helps Palestinian authorities find and kill Palestinians who sell land to Jews was arrested. Israel Police arrested Ezra Nawi, 63, at Ben Gurion International Airport on Monday as he attempted to leave the country for a destination in Europe. He is to be investigated on suspicion…
