A Jewish young man reported being assaulted near Paris by three black men, who hit him and called him a “dirty Jew.” The incident occurred on Tuesday in Montreuil, an eastern suburb of Paris, according to a report published Thursday by the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism — a French watchdog group known locally…
The president of Yeshiva University, who has steered the flagship Modern Orthodox institution through a sex abuse scandal and an ongoing fiscal crisis, has announced that he will step down at the end of his current term. Richard Joel, 65, announced his pending departure at the end of an email sent to staff, students and…
Israel has opened its new Cairo embassy inside its ambassador’s residence, saying on Thursday that holdups in finding separate premises as is customary had encumbered an already challenging relationship with Egypt. Egypt was the first of a handful of Arab countries to recognize Israel, with a U.S.-sponsored 1979 peace accord but Egyptian attitudes to their…
A Dutch publisher defended an assertion in a history textbook for high school students that said that cash-strapped Britain’s support for Zionism owed to its desire to woe rich Jewish bankers. The book “Theme Workbook – The Middle East,” published by ThiemeMeulenhoff and intended for students attending pre-university secondary education — the highest scholastic track…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave his blessing to controversial construction planned atop a former Jewish cemetery in Lithuania, that country’s leader said. Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius spoke of Netanyahu’s consent for the planned renovation at the Concert and Sports Palace in central Vilnius in an interview Wednesday with the Baltic News Service. “He…
Yeshiva University has finalized an agreement to transfer the operations and finances of its medical school to the Montefiore Health System. Under the agreement, Montefiore will assume operational authority and responsibilty for Y.U.’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine, while Y.U. remains responsible for academic oversight, including the granting of degrees, the two institutions said in…
Two thirds of Congress’ Jewish lawmakers back the Iran nuclear deal in a tally finalized when Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., announced his backing. Grayson’s announcement late Wednesday, the day deliberations began in Congress, brings the total number of backers among the 28 Jews in Congress to 19, with nine opposed. Grayson, who is running for…
A rebellion by conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives on Wednesday delayed the first congressional vote on the nuclear agreement with Iran and raised the possibility that lawmakers might never vote on a resolution disapproving of the pact. The House was supposed to vote on a procedural motion to begin debate on Wednesday, but…
Barry Freundel, the disgraced Orthodox rabbi who went to jail for installing secret cameras in the mikvah ritual bath adjacent to his Washington synagogue, has issued a public apology. “No matter how many times I attempt to apologize, it will never be enough,” Freundel wrote in his Sept. 8 letter of apology, which was posted…
An Israeli-based nongovernmental organization called on General Electric Co. to void a labor accord with an American union that recently endorsed the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel. In a letter sent last week to GE CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt, Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center President Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of Tel Aviv and the…
The New York City Board of Health repealed a consent form for a controversial circumcision rite. The vote Wednesday to repeal the consent form to allow the metzitzah b’peh rite was 9-1,with one abstention. A law requiring parents to sign a consent form for metzitzah b’peh was enacted in 2012 under Mayor Michael Bloomberg after…
