Judith Butler and Rashid Khalidi are circulating a letter objecting to retaliation against those who support boycotts of Israel. Both Butler and Khalidi recently had events canceled at Jewish institutions after critics raised objections to their views on Israel. Butler, a literary theorist affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley, pulled out of a talk…
Brooklyn prosecutors have moved to dismiss all charges against Samuel Kellner, the Brooklyn man who helped bring abuse charges against other figures in the ultra-Orthodox community. Kellner, a key figure in several sexual abuse cases, had faced perjury, criminal solicitation, conspiracy and attempted grand larceny for allegedly shaking down suspected abusers. “After a careful review…
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said American Jewish organizations are selling out on Israel in favor of the Obama administration. Bachmann made the accusation this week during a telephone interview with Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council and host of the online radio show that is featured on the conservative Christian group’s website. “What…
A motion supporting a blanket boycott of Israel was passed by students of the National University of Ireland. The result of Thursday’s referendum at the NUI Galway Students Union make it the first student body in Ireland to endorse the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, campaign against Israel, according to the local news site…
Israel’s ambassador in Kiev, Reuven Din El, opened a hotline with a Ukrainian ultra-nationalist movement to “prevent provocations.” The agreement came at the end of a meeting held last week between Din El and Dmitry Yarosh, the leader of the Right Sector paramilitary group, which participated in the overthrow of the government of President Viktor…
A French watchdog group filed a complaint against a rap artist they accuse of glorifying the anti-Semitic murderer Mohammed Merah. The National Bureau for Vigilance against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA, filed the complaint this week against Elie Yaffa, better known in France by his stage name Booba, in connection with the lyrics of a song titled…
A few days after selling WhatsApp to Facebook for $19 billion, Jan Koum stepped into a suite at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco to celebrate with old friends, including CEOs, reformed hackers and a few people who fell into both those camps. Conducted over snacks and beer, the late-night festivity was a spontaneous…
A New York personal trainer pleaded guilty on Thursday to being part of a New Jersey ring that used violence to coerce Jewish husbands to agree to grant their wives religious divorces, federal prosecutors said on Thursday. David Hellman, 31, was one of 10 men, including two Orthodox Jewish rabbis, arrested last fall in the…
The Robinson’s Arch plaza at the Western Wall will come under the control of a future government-appointed pluralist council. Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett forged an agreement within the government on Thursday that would put the egalitarian prayer site in the hands of the council with non-Orthodox representation. Last week, reports emerged that the…
The Jewish Federations of North America has launched a Ukraine Assistance Fund. The money raised by the umbrella group will be used to provide security for Jewish institutions and offer assistance to individuals as the country faces turmoil sparked by its recent revolution and the Russian invasion of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. “As the situation escalates,…
The House of Representatives almost unanimously approved a bill that would enhance U.S. security cooperation with Israel. The U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act, introduced last year by Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), enhances cooperation in the energy and cybersecurity areas, among others; transfers excess U.S. armaments to Israel for stockpiling and possible use;…
