Israel for the first time marked a national day of remembrance for the hundreds of thousands of Jews who were displaced from Arab countries. In June, the Knesset adopted a law designating Nov. 30 as an annual, national day of commemoration for the 850,000 Jewish refugees who were displaced from Arab countries and Iran in…
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should seek early elections if his coalition allies continue to bicker in public, Israel’s defense minister said on Sunday. Netanyahu’s government has been torn by differences over proposed cuts to the 2015 budget, policy towards Palestinians in Jerusalem, and a Jewish nation-state bill that critics say would discriminate against Arab citizens….
Hundreds of Israelis protested in Jerusalem against the nation-state bill enshrining Israel’s status as a Jewish state. The protesters gathered Saturday night in front of the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a softened version of the measure to the Cabinet on Sunday. The bill will go to the Knesset for…
A Tel Aviv synagogue apparently was vandalized in protest of Israel’s nation-state bill. “In a place where the Jewish State bill will be legislated, books will be burned,” read the graffiti painted Sunday on a wall of the Tel Aviv International Synagogue. A pile of burned books — none of them religious texts — were…
Three Palestinian men were indicted for planning to attack activist Yehuda Glick and right-wing lawmaker Moshe Feiglin during a visit to the Temple Mount. The men, ages 18 to 21 from eastern Jerusalem, were charged over the weekend with conspiracy to injure a person using weapons and with nationalistic motivation. The attack was to occur…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will submit a plan to the Knesset for significant investments in the Arab Druze and Muslim Circassian communities. The plan will include funds for education, infrastructure, and employment “in order to reduce the existing disparities,” Netanyahu announced Saturday night on his Facebook page, an on Sunday in an official announcement…
A far-right rally and concert went ahead in Milan despite protests by the Milan Jewish community and other groups. But reports said the event Saturday drew far fewer people than anticipated. No incidents were reported. The Italian media said about 300 skinheads and other far-right militants attended Hammerfest 2014, held in a privately owned outbuilding…
The Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth officiated at the inauguration of the first rabbi officially appointed to lead the Jewish community in Australia’s capital. Rabbi Efraim Mirvis was present last week as Rabbi Alon Meltzer became the first rabbi to lead the Australian Capital Territory’s National Jewish Memorial Center. Meltzer, a 26-year-old from New Zealand,…
A Canadian-Israeli Jewish woman who joined Kurdish forces in their fight against the Islamic State reportedly has been taken captive by ISIS. The capture of Gillian Rosenberg and several other female fighters has been reported on blogs and Islamist websites, Israeli media is reporting. Rosenberg, 31, reportedly was captured by jihadists near the Syrian city…
A publisher in Amsterdam released the first smartphone application to contain Anne Frank’s diary in its original language. Uitgeverij Prometheus unveiled the Dutch-language application, or app, earlier this month at Theater Amsterdam — a 1,100-seat auditorium which was built in the Dutch capital earlier this year for the show “Anne,” about the Jewish teenage diarist’s…
The Hitler hairdo of a Romanian mayor, who in 2009 was photographed wearing a Nazi uniform, prompted a Jewish watchdog group to sue him for allegedly inciting hatred. The Center for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism, or MCA Romania, filed a criminal complaint last week against Radu Mazare, the mayor of the seaside resort town of…
