Hungary recognized a Jewish sociologist, Andreas Kovacs, and two citizens accused of making anti-Semitic statements with prestigious national awards. Kovacs, 65, was one of 17 people presented the Szechenyi Prize on the occasion of Hungary’s March 15 national day. The prize, given to Kovacs for his decades-long research on postwar Jewish identity, anti-Semitism, minority rights…
The AEK Athens midfielder Giorgos Katidis has been handed a life ban from all national teams by Greece’s football federation EPO after he appeared to give a Nazi salute to supporters during a match. Katidis, 20, a former captain of Greece’s Under-19 team, made the alleged salute in celebrating his winning goal in a 2-1…
An ancient Jewish cemetery in Amsterdam has been reopened after almost 70 years of neglect, thanks to help from Moroccan and Jewish youths who renovated it. The Zeeburg cemetery will be open to the public on the first Sunday of every month, a spokesperson for the Association for the Restoration of the Zeeburg Cemetery told…
Although Benjamin Netanyahu’s next defence minister shares his deep distrust of the Palestinians, the two could yet clash about when – and whether – Israel should go to war with Iran. Ex-general Moshe Yaalon is a loyalist of Netanyahu’s Likud party who, as a senior if sometimes sidelined member of the outgoing coalition government, routinely…
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday chose Moshe Yaalon, an ex-general and vice premier from his right-wing Likud party, to be Israel’s next defence minister, a government official said. Yaalon, 62, spent the past four years in Netanyahu’s inner circle of ministers, routinely boosting the rightist prime minister and his strategic outlook. He shares the…
Among those Israelis vying for the attention of Barack Obama as he prepares for his visit here next week, one fairly large, yet little-known group can claim a special long-standing connection to the U.S. president: We were his classmates in the Columbia University undergraduate class of 1983. As of the latest count, there are close…
Disgraced ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner has spent more than $100,000 on polling this month alone, raising speculation that he may be planning a return to politics. The Tweet-happy Jewish lawmaker, who quit in 2011 after being caught sending inappropriate text messages and pictures to women, paid a San Francisco consulting firm $106,500 in March, the Daily…
A Jewish Republican lawmaker who voted against legalizing medical marijuana in 2011 was charged with pot possession after New York state police found a bag of weed in his car. Steve Katz, a controversial Tea Party supporter who lives in suburban Yorktown, NY, was stopped for speeding at about 80 mph on the Thruway on…
An Algerian immigrant to the United States convicted under a rarely invoked New York state terror statute of plotting to blow up synagogues and churches in Manhattan was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in prison. Ahmed Ferhani, 27, pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy as a crime of terrorism, related weapons charges and other…
A Harlem mother jumped eight stories to her death with her 10-month-old son strapped to her chest —miraculously, the baby survived. Cynthia Wachenheim, 44, landed on her back allowing baby Keston to roll away unscathed after the impact, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday. Wachenheim, left a 13-page suicide note for her husband, Hal…
The Vatican on Friday strongly denied accusations by some critics in Argentina that Pope Francis stayed silent during systematic human rights abuses by the former military dictatorship. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters the accusations: “Must be clearly and firmly denied.” He added that, “They reveal anti-clerical left-wing elements that are used to attack…
