Germany?s top Jewish leader has slammed the government?s decision not to join efforts to ban the country?s most powerful neo-Nazi party. ?The decision of the Federal Government is disappointing and politically completely wrong,? Dieter Graumann, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said in a statement Wednesday. ?They chose hesitation and procrastination over…
U.S. President Barack Obama pledged on Wednesday to hold Syria to account if it used chemical weapons and reassured Israel of U.S. resolve against Iran as he tried to allay the security fears of the main U.S. ally in the Middle East. Obama, visiting Israel for the first time as president and seeking to bolster…
Palestinian activists set up a protest camp on Wednesday close to where Israel wants to build a new settlement in the occupied West Bank, drawing attention to their struggle during a visit to the region by President Barack Obama. Over a hundred demonstrators erected four large, steel-framed tents and a massive Palestinian flag on the…
One of President Barack Obama?s protective limousines broke down in Israel on Wednesday but did not affect his ability to move around Jerusalem, a Secret Service spokesman said. The black, heavily guarded limousine experienced mechanical problems before Obama landed in Israel for a state visit. Various news reports said it had been mistakenly filled with…
A man jailed for 21 years for the murder of a prominent Satmar rabbi might not actually be guilty, the New York Times reported Wednesday. David Ranta, sentenced to 37.5 years in a maximum-security prison in May 1991 for the violent murder of Rabbi Chaskel Werzberger, may be released as early as Thursday, the report…
Making his first official visit to Israel, U.S. President Barack Obama pledged on Wednesday unwavering commitment to the security of the Jewish State where concern over a nuclear-armed Iran has clouded U.S.-Israeli relations. He also stressed the need for Middle East peace at the start of a three-day trip, which is aimed at resetting strained…
The French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, who supported France?s military intervention in Libya, was barred from visiting there because he is Jewish. Levy, a celebrity in France, was supposed to join former French president Nicolas Sarkozy on a visit that began on Tuesday in Tripoli, according to a report on the news website Rue89. The website…
President Barack Obama said at the start of his first official visit to Israel on Wednesday that the U.S. commitment to the security of the Jewish state was rock solid and that peace must come to the Holy Land. ?I see this visit as an opportunity to reaffirm the unbreakable bond between our nations, to…
Barack Obama has become the fifth American president to visit Israel during his term in office. Air Force One touched down bang on time at Ben Gurion Airport, met by trumpet blasts, an Israeli military guard of honor, and welcome speeches by his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His red…
France?s Ministry of Culture has returned seven valuable paintings looted by the Nazis during the Holocaust from two Jewish families. Six of the paintings were given to Thomas Selldorff, an 84-year-old resident of the Boston area, who came to Paris to collect them during a ceremony on Tuesday at the ministry in Paris, according to…
The World Jewish Congress will hold its annual assembly in Budapest to show solidarity with Hungary?s Jews who are facing ?exceptionally strong? anti-Semitism, organizers said. ?This will be the first time in a very long time that the WJC will hold its congress outside Jerusalem,? said Peter Feldmajer, president of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish…
