As online titans compete to deliver instant maps to smartphones, the Library of Congress in Washington is focusing attention on an antique “cosmology” printed in 1507 that serves as America’s birth certificate. The black-and-white map created by Martin Waldseemuller, a French cleric, was the first time the name America had appeared on any map. Waldseemuller…
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will be in Israel the Palestinian territories next week in his bid to revive the peace process. “These meetings are to follow-up on ongoing discussions as we continue to assess how best we can support the parties in getting back to the table and in having dialogue leading to…
Egyptian police blocked the crossing into the Gaza Strip on Friday in protest against the kidnapping of seven of their colleagues by Islamist gunmen, witnesses said. Officers strung barbed wire across the Rafah border post and chained up the gates, leaving hundreds of Palestinians stranded on both sides of the fence, locals told Reuters. Gunmen…
It’s best to take with a grain of salt the complaints that will be voiced in the near future by the General Staff about the implications of the cuts included in the state budget passed this week. True, in the years ahead, the Israel Defense Forces will be required to dismiss 4,000 career soldiers (while…
An American contractor imprisoned in Cuba has settled a lawsuit in which he accused the company he was working for when he was arrested and the U.S. government with failing to warn him about the risks of working on the communist-controlled island. Alan Gross and his wife Judy filed the $60 million lawsuit in November…
Israeli Justice Minister Tzippi Livni warned that “Israel has a right to defend itself” in the wake of reports that Russia provided advanced naval missiles to Syria. “We see that Syria is disintegrating and a weapons shipment is certainly not a positive development, it destabilizes the area,” Army Radio quoted Livni as saying in reaction…
The Ukrainian ultra-nationalist Svoboda party distanced itself from a recent anti-Semitic letter carrying its logo. The threatening letter, which was mailed this month to a prominent Jewish movie director, is “another attempt to do divert attention away from the authorities’ failed social and economic policies by implanting artificial incitement of ethnic hatred in Ukraine,” the…
Fifteen men of Palestinian origin have been arrested on charges of running a multi-million-dollar cigarette smuggling ring in New York, and New York authorities who announced the arrests on Thursday said several of the suspects have ties to Hamas and other Islamist militant groups. One of the men is suspected of supplying the gun used…
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews protested in Jerusalem on Thursday against plans to enlist men from their community into the military, a proposal supported by the secular majority pushing for a more equal share of the burden on Israeli society. A sea of black coats – the traditional attire of ultra-Orthodox men – engulfed Jerusalem streets…
Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice discussed the Middle East peace process and other regional issues with Jewish community leaders. The hour-long meeting May 13 organized by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs also included representatives of The Jewish Federations of North America, UJA-Federation of New York, and the JCRC of New York. JCPA…
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said at the White House on Thursday that he intends to go ahead with a planned trip to the Gaza Strip next month despite pressure from the United States to delay it. “I place a lot of significance on this visit in terms of peace in the Middle East,” Erdogan…
„לווייתן ברוח“ באַקענט דעם לייענער מיט באַקאַנטע ייִדישע פֿיגורן, ווי י. ל. פּרץ, ש. אַנ-סקי און חנא שמערוק
