(JTA) — Alan Gross wore a gray suit, red tie and a perpetual smile as he took the stage Thursday night at Temple Beth Ami in Rockville, Md., at a welcome-home reception in his honor sponsored by dozens of Jewish organizations, including the the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington. But while he celebrated…
(JTA) — On a recent Friday night inside this city’s Beth Shalom synagogue, Aliet Ashkenazi, 25, stood draped in a blue-and-white prayer shawl leading prayers in a mix of Spanish and near-perfect Hebrew. It was the first time she had ever led services – a feat considering she converted to Judaism seven years ago after…
TV talk show pioneer Joe Franklin, who interviewed thousands of people from a dancing dentist to Academy Award winning actors in a far from glamorous New York studio has died at the age of 88, his long time producer said on Sunday. Franklin, a New York broadcasting institution who helped bolster the careers of then…
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman has told activists in his Yisrael Beiteinu party to buy up and distribute copies of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for free. The directive came after Stiematzky, a leading Israeli bookstore chain, canceled plans to sell the magazine’s latest issue in stores. Following threats of violence, the chain said…
A Druze student in Jerusalem was beaten with glass bottles by a gang. Tommy Hasson, 21, told Israeli news website Ynet that he was leaving his job at a hotel Thursday night when a group of people approached him and began mocking him for speaking Arabic. One man spat on him, and after Hasson hit…
The Jewish People Policy Institute has composed a plan to facilitate immigration of 120,000 French Jews to Israel. The plan by the Jewish Agency-affiliated think tank would prepare for up to 120,000 French Jews to arrive in Israel during the coming four years. The plan cited a rise in jihadist terror attacks and a difficult…
An Israeli attack which killed several prominent members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah last week was an attempt by Israel to set “new rules” in the conflict between the two foes, Hezbollah’s deputy leader said at a gathering to commemorate those who died. Sheik Naim Qassem’s comments were the first reaction from the group’s leadership to the…
(JTA) — The Associated Press reported today that, in response to the increasing numbers of anti-Semitic attacks in Europe, an Israeli barber has designed yarmulkes that blend in with the wearer’s hair. Called the “Magic Kippa,” the head coverings, made of synthetic hair, are washable, brushable and dyeable. Inventor Shalom Koresh told the AP he invented…
European Jewish groups are protesting the name of the world’s largest ship, which was named after a Dutch officer in the Nazi Waffen-SS military force. The Pieter Schelte, which docked in Rotterdam in early January, is named after an SS officer convicted of war crimes in World War II, according to the Guardian. Schelte conscripted…
(Reuters) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended on Sunday a planned speech to the U.S. Congress about Iran, saying he had a moral obligation to take every opportunity to speak out on an issue that poses a mortal threat to his country. His visit to Washington in March has opened up a political rift…
Thousands of Palestinians rallied in the occupied West Bank on Saturday to protest against the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad in French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Simultaneous demonstrations were held in the cities of Ramallah and Hebron less than three weeks after Islamist gunmen shot dead 12 people in the Paris office of…
