Israel gave final approval on Monday for 90 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank, driving another wedge into a rift with Washington ahead of a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama. The dwellings will be built in Beit El, a major Jewish settlement north of Jerusalem, and will house educational staff, the Defence…
Prosecutors in Siberia reportedly have indicted a Russian citizen of inciting to violence against Jews and quoting texts by Adolf Hitler. The Russian news agency Interfax reported on Monday that the 65-year-old man from Minusinsk in the Krasnoyarsk region was the founder of an anti-Semitic, neo-Nazi cell called “Minin and Pozharski People’s Militia.” Since 2011,…
The Dutch government has asked the European Commission to recognize the former Nazi transit camp Westerbork as a heritage site. But the municipality in whose jurisdiction Westerbork lies, Midden-Drenthe, reportedly has rejected a plan to place memorial cobblestones in front of the homes of Holocaust victims – an ongoing project taking place in municipalities across…
Israeli chief rabbi Yona Metzger on Monday praised Pope Benedict’s inter-religious outreach and said relations between Israel and the Vatican had never been better. “During his period (as pope) there were the best relations ever between the church and the chief rabbinate and we hope that this trend will continue,” a spokesman quoted Metzger as…
Israeli police detained 10 women at one of Judaism’s most sacred sites on Monday for wearing prayer shawls, which Orthodox tradition sees as solely for men, a spokesman said. The incident at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City highlighted the divisions between the more liberal streams of Judaism and politically powerful Orthodox groups that…
Pope Benedict surprised the world on Monday by saying he no longer had the mental and physical strength to cope with the demands of his ministry, becoming the first pontiff to step down since the Middle Ages and leaving his aides “incredulous”. The 85-year-old German-born Pope, hailed as a hero by conservative Catholics and viewed…
After years of watching synagogue members die or move away, the Sephardic Jewish Center of Canarsie made the difficult decision to downsize. The 50-year-old Brooklyn synagogue had been a thriving center for the area’s Sephardim. But after accepting that it could no longer pull together enough money to cover expenses, let alone muster the 10…
Israel Police have been carefully following the Facebook accounts of the social protest movement and its leaders, apparently as part of a hunt for evidence of criminal wrongdoing, it emerged from evidence police prosecutors have submitted to the court in support of indictments against protest leader Daphni Leef and others. In addition to video footage…
Howie Lassoff, who helped lead Maccabi Tel Aviv to six league titles and won Maccabiah gold with the U.S. squad, has died. Lassoff, a member of the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, died Feb. 7 following a battle with cancer. He was 57. The 6-foot-10 Lassoff was the starting center for the Israeli national…
The president of the AMIA Buenos Aires Jewish center said the truth commission agreed to by Argentina and Iran “will allow a third bombing in Argentina.” “This pact is viewed by some people as a step forward. This may be a step to the precipice,” Guillermo Borger said. “It will allow a very unfortunate third…
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet on Monday with Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett for the first time since the election in January. The announcement came only after Bennett issued another apology for comments he made about the prime minister’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, and complimented her in a media interview. Naftali Bennett worked…
