Israeli President Shimon Peres arrived in Rome to take part in a “call for peace,” with Pope Francis and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Peres arrived in Rome Sunday morning for the Vatican visit. During the main event with the three leaders as well as delegations of Jewish, Christian and Islamic faith leaders, they will…
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, one of two leading candidates to succeed Shimon Peres as Israel’s next head of state, withdrew from the race on Saturday, a day after police questioned him under caution over a loan he had received. The move appeared to smooth the path to the presidency of Reuven Rivlin, a former speaker of parliament…
(JTA) — There once was a time when the Jewish community in this Pennsylvania city just west of the Pocono Mountains was thriving. That much is clear from a quick tour. The sanctuary at the local Orthodox synagogue, Ohav Zedek, seats nearly 1,000. Temple Israel, the Conservative shul, has two huge buildings — a hulking…
Following the slaying of four people at Brussels’ Jewish museum in May, the City of Amsterdam has decided to increase security around Jewish centers indefinitely. The decision was based on the recommendation of the Dutch National Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism and Security, or NCTV, the ANP news agency reported on Thursday. The Coordinator said in an…
A federal appeals court has revived a New York City woman’s lawsuit to force a California museum to return two life-size panels by German Renaissance artist Lucas Cranach the Elder that were looted by the Nazis during World War II. By a 2-1 vote, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday said Marei…
A coalition of Cleveland Jewish leaders are protesting a graphic mural painted on a gas station wall that depicts a rabbi performing a controversial circumcision ritual. Anti-Defamation League regional director Anita Gray, and Cheryl Davis, chair of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s Community Relations Committee, slammed the mural as anti-Semitic. “This outrageous and deeply offensive…
Pope Francis hopes an unprecedented meeting of the Israeli and Palestinian presidents at the Vatican on Sunday can help end “eternal negotiations” and lead to peace but he has no wish to meddle in Middle East politics, the Vatican said on Friday. Israel’s Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will pray for peace together…
The German Bundestag unanimously passed legislation approving back payments of so-called ghetto pensions for Jewish survivors. The law, reflecting years of negotiations, was approved by the Federal Cabinet in April and sent to the Bundestag. It requires retroactive payments of a few hundred euros per month going as far back as July 1, 1997. Reportedly,…
The Spanish government has approved a draft bill that proposes to grant citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jews who were forced into exile 500 years ago. Spain’s Council of Ministers, the Spanish cabinet, on Friday approved the draft law, which proposes to dispense with the need to relinquish foreign nationalities as required for other new…
The prime minister and president of Israel both spoke with Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Friday to congratulate him on his victory in Egyptian presidential elections and to stress the importance of bilateral ties. The separate phone calls came two days before Sisi was due to be installed in office following his comprehensive ballot-box win last…
(Reuters) — The Beastie Boys’ fight for their right to not let Monster Beverage Corp use the hip-hop group’s music without their permission resulted in a verdict of $1.7 million on Thursday. A federal jury in Manhattan issued the verdict on the eighth day of trial in a copyright dispute between members of the Brooklyn-born…
