The Jewish community of the Polish city of Lodz received its first new Torah scroll since World War II, its rabbi said. The scroll, donated to the community by the British Jewish philanthropists Hilton and Louise Nathanson, was introduced on Monday during a special ceremony in the city’s synagogue, the rabbi of the Jewish Community…
Rare agreement between two long-bickering leaders may actually be in the cards when Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama meet on Monday for the first time since the signing of the Iran nuclear deal. Their White House talks will be an important step towards a new U.S. military aid package that could burnish…
The Israeli army shot dead two Palestinians on Friday, one an elderly woman accused of trying to run over soldiers in the occupied West Bank and the other a man who took part in a violent Gaza Strip protest, hospital officials said. Separately, three Israelis were wounded in the West Bank, two of them shot…
A substantial bipartisan majority of members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas urging him to end incitement. “There have been some efforts to curb the violence and protect the peace,” said the letter sent Thursday, alluding to Abbas’ cooperation with Israel in containing the recent spate…
The Palestinian administration in the occupied West Bank shut down the local office of a pan-Arab newspaper this week after accusing it of “offensive” reporting on Palestinian security coordination with Israel, officials said. As Palestinian-Israeli street violence surged last month, Al Araby Al-Jadeed daily accused the administration of jailing “dozens of (Palestinian) political prisoners on…
The leader of American Reform Jewry said Diaspora Jews should not support the misguided policies of Israeli leaders and that Israel should look to North America for moral guidance. “Asking Jews around the world only to wave the flag of Israel and to support even the most misguided policies of its leaders drives a wedge…
Former Anti-Defamation League National Director Abe Foxman is calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “distance himself” from the appointment of Ran Baratz as head of the Israel’s public diplomacy (hasbara) department in the Prime Minister’s Office. “No apology or explanation can now repair the damage,” Foxman said. “When Netanyahu didn’t know about Baratz’s statement,…
Donald Trump solicited financial backing from two major Republican donors known for their support of Israel, according to a report. Trump, who is among the front-runners in the Republican presidential primaries, has reached out over the past year to Sheldon Adelson and Paul Singer for their backing, Politico reported Thursday. The billionaire reality star, who…
The body of a Lithuanian Jewish woman who died in Germany 78 years ago was exhumed for reburial next to her husband in Chicago. Wednesday’s exhumation of the woman, whose family asked not to be named by the media, was a rare exception to Jewish religious laws that forbid disturbing graves under all but very…
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson defended a unique personal theory he shared years ago that the Egyptian pyramids were built by the biblical Joseph to store grain, not to serve as tombs for the pharaohs. At a book signing Thursday in Florida, a day after Buzzfeed News posted a 1998 video showing him espousing this…
The United States takes offense at comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new communications director accusing President Barack Obama of anti-Semitism and suggesting that Secretary of State John Kerry had the mental abilities of a 12-year-old, the State Department said on Thursday. It said Kerry had spoken to the Israeli leader on Thursday and…
