An official in the Virginia Republican Party apologized for an anti-Semitic joke. “Earlier this week, I made a lighthearted attempt at humor to which some have taken offense,” John Whitbeck, the chairman of the party in the state’s Tenth Congressional District, said in a statement posted Sept. 20 on its website. “It was certainly not…
UNITED NATIONS – Iran’s new government took its diplomatic charm offensive to the United Nations on Monday and agreed to new talks on its nuclear program with top diplomats from six world powers, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The meeting bringing the top U.S. diplomat and new Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif…
The Iranian Jewish community in the U.S. has declined an official invitation to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during his current visit to New York. Sam Kermanian, who serves as a special adviser to the Iranian American Jewish Federation, told Haaretz on Monday that community leaders were concerned that such a meeting would “send…
Yad Vashem posthumously recognized the Italian cycling champion Gino Bartali as Righteous Among the Nations. The Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem said in a statement Monday that during the German occupation of Italy beginning in September 1943, “Bartali, a devout Catholic, was part of a rescue network spearheaded by Rabbi Nathan Cassuto of Florence together with…
Roy Naim, a leading Jewish activist for immigration reform, was arrested on child pornography charges. Naim, 29, pleaded not guilty last week in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn to charges of receiving child pornography, CNN reported. The Brooklyn resident, who immigrated to the United States with his family from Israel at 3, was one of…
A group of Saudi activists has begun another campaign for the lifting of a ban on women driving, urging women to get behind the wheel on Oct. 26 in defiance, according to its website. The “October 26 Driving” campaign says it has gathered 8,700 signatures for a petition it published on Sept. 21. “If the…
The Netherlands opposes any kind of import ban on Israeli products, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said, though it must enforce European Union legislation on labeling settlement goods. “I would like to stress that the Netherlands opposes any type of import ban or the boycott of Israeli products,” a Dutch official wrote in Rutte’s name…
The top security official for Jewish organizations was named to a consulting body to the Department of Homeland Security. Paul Goldenberg, the director of the Secure Community Network, was appointed to a three-year term on the Homeland Security Advisory Council. The Jewish Federations of North America, a sponsor of the SCN, announced Goldenberg’s appointment on…
President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday he would use his visit to the United Nations this week to present the “true face of Iran” and to pursue talks and cooperation with the West to end Iran’s nuclear dispute. A moderate conservative elected in June, Rouhani was speaking shortly before a five-day trip Western powers hope…
An Israeli soldier was shot dead on Sunday during a Jewish festival in the West Bank city of Hebron, a hotbed of tensions where some 500 Israeli settler families live among 100,000 Palestinians. He was the second Israeli serviceman killed since Friday by suspected Palestinian gunmen as tensions rise in the occupied territory despite a…
Hundreds of demonstrators turned out in the tiny North Dakota town of Leith on Sunday to protest plans by an American Nazi group to move in and take over the local government. The loud but peaceful demonstrators, many of them Native Americans from nearby reservations, were on hand for a visit from Jeff Schoep, commander…
