A Harvard Jewish student group has launched a national protest of Hillel rules barring partnerships with groups that back boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. Local campus Hillels have cited the rules in recent decisions to cancel events, deny recognition to student groups, and, in one case, to expel a student from Hillel leadership. The…
Stepping into the lion’s den, Chuck Hagel, took his seat across the Senate Armed Services Committee this morning, only to hear his confirmation hearing begin with a series of attacks — from friends and foes alike on both sides of the aisle. Committee chairman Carl Levin, a Jewish senator from Michigan who supports Hagel, called…
Chuck Hagel said he backed the U.S. policy of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon as he testified on Thursday before a skeptical Senate panel considering his nomination to be President Barack Obama’s next secretary of defense. Hagel, a former Republican senator and decorated Vietnam veteran, broadly defended his record on national security issues…
German Chancellor Angela Merkel used her meeting with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to criticize his past statements on Jews. Merkel raised the issue of Morsi’s 2010 recorded statement in which he called Israeli Zionists “descendants of apes and pigs,” during their meeting on Wednesday, according to German media. Morsi responded that the comments were taken…
Syria’s ambassador to Lebanon said on Thursday that Damascus had the option of a “surprise decision” to respond to what it said was an Israeli air strike on a research centre on the outskirts of the Syrian capital on Wednesday. Syria could take “a surprise decision to respond to the aggression of the Israeli warplanes,”…
There are indications that the Vatican and Israel may resolve outstanding bilateral issues and finalize the Fundamental Agreement governing relations between the two states. A joint communiqué following a meeting in Jerusalem Jan. 29 of the Bilateral Permanent Working Commission between the Holy See and Israel said “significant progress” had been made. It said the…
The political science faculty at Brooklyn College reportedly will be an official co-sponsor for an event in support of the BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement. The Feb. 7 event will feature Omar Barghouti, the co-founder of the BDS movement, and Judith Butler, an academic who openly speaks sympathetically about Hamas and Hezbollah, according to…
A United Nations investigation into the impact of Jewish West Bank settlements on the Palestinian population said that Israel should immediately begin to withdraw all settlers from the territory. The report issued Thursday by the U.N. Human Rights Council based in Geneva said that settlement violate the 1949 Geneva Conventions and that failure to withdraw…
Venezuela’s secret service SEBIN is spying on the country’s Jewish community, according to purportedly leaked documents recently posted online. Last week Analisis24, a right-leaning Argentinean news website, released 50 documents attributed to the Venezuelan intelligence agency containing private information on prominent Venezuelan Jews, local Jewish organizations and Israeli diplomats in Latin America. The papers include…
In answers prepared for his Senate hearings, Chuck Hagel says he is committed to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, even if this means military action. “With the ever present threat of Iran, the next Secretary of Defense must be vigilant in pursuing the goal of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and…
Israeli jets bombed a convoy near Syria’s border with Lebanon early on Wednesday, sources told Reuters, apparently targeting weapons destined for Hezbollah in what some called a warning to Damascus not to arm Israel’s Lebanese enemy. Syrian state television accused Israel of bombing a military research centre, at Jamraya between the capital and the nearby…
