Few American tourists to Israel forget their first visit to the Western Wall. They put notes in the cracks, whisper prayers and take photos against the backdrop of Judaism’s holiest site. But Kobi Bachar of Tel Aviv can’t remember the last time he visited. “I was there maybe 10 years ago,” said Bachar, who is…
The top Democrat in the Senate warned on Thursday that the United States looks to be headed over the “fiscal cliff” of tax hikes and spending cuts that will start next week if squabbling politicians do not reach a deal. Majority Leader Harry Reid told the Senate in a speech that “it looks like that…
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday dismissed his only female cabinet minister, Health Minister Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, after she criticised her colleagues for failing to provide funds to import vital medicines. Appointed in 2009, Dastjerdi was the first woman government minister since the Islamic Republic was established in 1979. While seen as politically conservative, the…
A Brooklyn fishmonger was indicted for throwing a cup of bleach in the face of a Chasidic rabbi who advocates for victims of sexual abuse in the haredi Orthodox community. Meilech Schnitzler, 36, of Williamsburg, a member of the Satmar Hasidic sect, was indicted Wednesday on two counts of attempted assault, two counts of assault…
A new initiative, supported by prominent Holocaust and genocide scholars, calls on the international community to share responsibility for resolving the African refugee crisis in Israel, insisting that Israel should not be expected to carry the burden alone. Spearheading the initiative are two leading Holocaust historians – Professor Rafael Medoff, director of the David S….
Cash-strapped Ukraine on Wednesday reminded entertainers making money by posing as Did Moroz – the local version of Santa Claus – and his helpers to pay income tax. The former Soviet republic’s government faces $9 billion in foreign debt repayments next year and its budget deficit almost tripled in January-October this year to more than…
A violent scuffle broke out between right-wing Israeli activists and supporters of Arab-Israeli lawmaker Hanin Zoabi following a Supreme Court hearing on her disqualification from upcoming elections. Zoabi said before a hearing in front of a panel of nine Supreme Court justices Thursday that she broke no law that could serve as the basis for…
Former President George H.W. Bush, who led a coalition that ejected Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991, is in intensive care at a Houston hospital in “guarded condition,” family spokesman Jim McGrath said Wednesday. The 88-year-old was admitted to hospital Nov. 23 for bronchitis. “The president is alert and conversing with medical staff, and is…
Hawaii’s governor named his Jewish lieutenant governor, Brian Schatz, to replace the late Daniel Inouye in the U.S. Senate. Gov. Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat, on Wednesday named Schatz, a former chairman of the state Democratic Party, to replace Inouye, who died last week. Schatz, 40, lists his religion as Jewish on his Facebook page. He…
Not only will Tzipi Livni not get the foreign affairs portfolio in the next Likud-led government, she won’t be allowed anywhere near the diplomatic realm or be involved in talks with the Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Likud ministers on Wednesday. Several Likud ministers had asked Netanyahu to address media reports according to which…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secretly met Jordan’s King Abdullah in Amman to discuss the risk of Syria’s chemical weapons falling into the hands of Islamist militants, Israeli media reports said on Wednesday. Two TV stations and Israeli news sites quoted unnamed Israeli officials confirming a report in the London-based Arabic language daily, Al-Quds…
