Woody Allen defended himself on Friday from newly published accusations by his now-adult adopted daughter that he molested her as a child, calling the allegations “ludicrous” and the product of a bitter custody battle with his former partner, actress Mia Farrow. An advance copy of an Allen op-ed piece to be published in the Sunday…
Two leading American Orthodox bodies rebuked a group of Israeli rabbis who warned of divine retribution against Secretary of State John Kerry. “While the people of Israel and Jews around the world may properly possess serious concerns about proposals Secretary Kerry is putting forth, such concerns must only be expressed with civility and on the…
Rabbi Michael Broyde, a prominent Modern Orthodox figure, resigned from the Rabbinical Council of America as a result of the scandal over his use of an online pseudonym. Broyde’s resignation was first reported Thursday by The Jewish Channel, which also uncovered Broyde’s online activities last year. “I deeply regret my wrongdoing and understand how disappointing…
A Belgian supermarket chain has recalled a costume which is meant to allow children to dress up as prisoners of a Nazi concentration camp. The recall was announced Friday by the Delhaize chain in a press release that it issued conjointly with the Belgian League against Anti-Semitism, or LBCA. “Delhaize deplores this incident and regrets…
A study guide on Zionism published by an arm of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is drawing expressions of outrage from Jewish groups. The guide is “worthy of a hate group, not a prominent American church,” said Rabbi Steve Gutow, president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the umbrella body for Jewish public policy groups….
After 522 years, Spain is inviting the Jews back — for real this time. Spain’s government announced in November 2012 a new law to give fast-track citizenship to Sephardic Jews. The Forward published an essay in January 2014 reporting that the government had yet to follow through on the promise. Now, Spain’s council of ministers…
The New York Times opinion editors reportedly refused to run Dylan Farrow’s open letter accusing her adoptive father Woody Allen of sex abuse. Politico reported that the Op-Ed page bosses passed on the explosive letter, which was later published on Nicholas Kristof’s blog. Kristof, a close friend of Farrow’s mother Mia, decided he would run…
Jewish activists from 12 states and the District of Columbia lobbied Congress to liberalize rules for government assistance for the disabled. The fourth annual Jewish Disability Advocacy Day on Thursday, sponsored by The Jewish Federations of North America and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, stressed the importance of passing the Achieving A Better…
Aid agencies working in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem expressed alarm on Friday at a spike in Israeli demolitions of Palestinian property coinciding with renewed U.S.-backed peace negotiations. The statement by 25 aid organisations said the number of demolitions increased by almost half and the displacement of Palestinians by nearly three-quarters between July…
A pro-Israel Spanish politician apologized for using the term “Jewish market” in describing budget negotiations. Jose Antonio Monago, the president of the local government of the Spanish autonomous region of Extremadura, said his statement was inappropriate but had been taken out of context. Monago, in an apology appearing Thursday in the Europa Press news agency,…
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee backed away from pressing for passage of an Iran sanctions bill at this time. In a speech Thursday on the Senate floor, sponsor Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said dealing with Iran deserved “a spirit of bipartisanship and unity,” and rejected bids to make it a partisan issue. “I hope…
