WASHINGTON — Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will meet in Washington to discuss “regional security challenges.” The defense chiefs are scheduled to meet Tuesday at the Pentagon, according to a statement from Pentagon spokesman Carlin Woog to JTA. Israel has welcomed the results of a threat by the Obama…
A majority of respondents in a French survey on racism said that being Jewish is easier today in France than it was 30 years ago but being Muslim has become more difficult. In the survey of 1,003 French adults published Monday, 70 percent of respondents said that being Jewish is easier today in France than…
The Finnish Sports Federation awarded first place to a Jewish runner who was denied victory at a national competition 75 years ago. Less than a month after apologizing for stripping Abraham Tokazier of his victory in a 100-meter race at Helsinki’s Olympic Stadium in 1938, the federation announced over the weekend that it would place…
More than half a million mourners turned out on Monday for the funeral of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, an Iraqi-born sage who transformed an Israeli underclass of Sephardic Jews of Middle East heritage into a powerful political force. Jerusalem’s police chief said the funeral for Yosef, who died earlier on Monday aged 93, was the biggest…
(JTA) — Meals on Wheels may disappear, Iran sanctions are at risk and yoga is filling in the gaps. This is what the federal government shutdown looks like in Jewish Washington. While national Jewish organizations are sorting through the essential services that the impasse may cut, regional Jewish service providers in the Washington area are…
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held a new round of talks on Monday, picking up the tempo of their meetings at the request of the United States in the face of widespread scepticism that they will ever reach a deal. The two sides resumed direct peace negotiations in late July after three years of stalemate and…
A fan of the British Tottenham soccer club was arrested for chanting “yid” during a home match. On Sunday, defying a police threat of arrest for using the term, supporters of Hotspur reportedly chanted “Yid Army” as well as “We’ll sing what we want” during a Premier League match against their London rivals, West Ham…
The synagogue in the Czech Republic village of Ckyne was rededicated, culminating a restoration project that took more than two decades. More than 100 people attended the ceremony in the southern village on Saturday, which included a religious service led by the cantor of the synagogue in the nearby Czech city of Liberec. A Torah…
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie strongly advocated for charter schools, vouchers, and other forms of school choice during an Orthodox Union-sponsored Legislative Breakfast. Education was the primary focus of Sunday morning’s event, which drew a crowd of 600 people and lasted for two hours at Congregation Keter Torah in Teaneck, N.J. Orthodox Union representatives emphasized…
El Al agents in the Netherlands exercised racial discrimination against dark-skinned passengers, a Dutch government judicial watchdog on human rights has ruled. The Sept. 30 ruling by the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights, a legal review board set up the Dutch parliament, states that El Al representatives performed racial profiling on five Dutch passengers because…
American expatriate Nancy Kissel appeared in a Hong Kong court on Monday seeking to overturn her conviction for the murder of her Merril Lynch banker husband. Kissel, 49, has been in jail in Hong Kong since 2005 when she was found guilty of murdering her husband after giving him a drug-laced milkshake and then clubbing…
