A pro-Israel watchdog is claiming victory after Manhattan cultural center 92Y cancelled an appearance by Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters. Richard Allen, head of JCC Watch, said Waters got the cold shoulder he should have expected from the Jewish community considering his harsh criticism of Israel. Allen mocked the rock legend for musing that he…
A far-right Hungarian priest said an “anti-Zionist” demonstration will be held in Budapest on the first day of the World Jewish Congress’ General Assembly. Lorant Hegedus Jr., a Calvinist priest and member of the ultrarightist, anti-Semitic Jobbik party, announced that an “Anti-Bolshevik and anti-Zionist people’s gathering” will be held in the Hungarian capital on May…
Israeli police detained five women activists on Thursday at the Western Wall, one of Judaism’s most sacred sites, for wearing prayer shawls, which Orthodox tradition sees as solely for men, a spokesman said. The incident occurred during a monthly prayer session by the Women of the Wall, a group opposed to police-enforced Orthodox controls at…
Pink Floyd rocker Roger Waters says Manhattan’s 92Y canceled his planned speaking event at the cultural center and he suspects it was because his criticism of Israel sparked “resistance in the local Jewish community.” “If that be the case, it saddens me,” Waters wrote on his website. “In these troubled times, opportunities for serious, measured…
A planned protest of former President Jimmy Carter’s appearance at Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law fizzled as he came to accept an award at the downtown Manhattan campus. In an email to the Forward on Wednesday, Daniel Rubin, 62, who earlier said a dozen former alumni were planning an act of civil disobedience in…
Israel charged a member of its Arab minority on Wednesday with security offences for joining the Syrian insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad, saying he had associated with radical Islamist fighters. An Israeli official said Hikmat Massarwa’s case was the first of its kind. Indicted for unlawful military training, travel to a hostile country and contacts…
Preident Obama has asked for $47.8 billion for the Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development, a six percent decrease from 2012 levels, because of the lower requests for Iraq and Afghanistan. The budget proposes the most sweeping change in U.S. food aid in decades, with a plan intended to feed more people…
erman authorities said on Wednesday they had uncovered a network of far-right activists in prisons communicating by secret code. Among the names on the network’s address list was that of a woman who goes on trial next week accused of a series of racially motivated murders. Wednesday’s revelations are embarrassing for Germany, which has been…
The parliament of Portugal is scheduled to vote on whether to naturalize descendants of 16th century Jews who fled the country because of religious persecution. The motion will be brought to a first reading on Thursday by Portugal’s Socialist Party and is expected to pass since it also is supported by the ruling Social Democratic…
After beating Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles in last year’s presidential election, Hugo Chavez telephoned him and courteously quipped: “You made me get out and work hard!” Now in his second campaign for the OPEC nation’s top job, the tireless Capriles has again pushed himself to the limit to ensure his new rival and election…
The Auschwitz Jewish Center launched a fundraising campaign to rescue the house of Oswiecim’s last Jewish resident. The center, in the Polish town where the Auschwitz concentration camp was built, plans to transform the home of Szymon Kluger into a cafe that also will serve as a meeting place for local residents and visitors. As…
