Israel will withhold tax revenues from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s administration until March at least in response to his statehood campaign at the United Nations, Israel’s foreign minister said. Under interim peace deals, Israel collects some $100 million a month in duties on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the occupied West Bank –…
A Hasidic rabbi who advocates for victims of sexual abuse in the ultra-Orthodox community was injured when a chemical was thrown in his face. Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg on Tuesday was walking down the street in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, where he lives, when a man approached him from behind, tapped him on his shoulder…
Indian musician and composer Ravi Shankar, who helped introduce the sitar to the Western world through his collaborations with The Beatles, died in Southern California on Tuesday, his family said. He was 92. Shankar, a three-time Grammy winner with legendary appearances at the 1967 Monterey Festival and at Woodstock, had been in fragile health for…
Back before the popcorn with Cameron Diaz, the revelations about performance-enhancing drugs, and the attempt to pick up a female fan’s phone number during this year’s playoffs, Alex Rodriguez made news in 2008 when he studied kabbalah alongside then-girlfriend Madonna. Rodriguez is expected to miss the start of the season due to a hip injury,…
Temple Israel of Long Beach, the Long Island synagogue damaged in Hurricane Sandy, will send a 90-year-old menorah that survived the storm to the White House for a Hanukkah party hosted by President Barack Obama on December 13, according to the New York Times. The shul lost six torahs, incurred ten feet of flooding and…
Jewish students at Binghamton University in upstate New York say they have documentation to prove that they broke the Guinness World Record for dreidel spinning. Some 749 dreidels were spun simultaneously for at least 10 seconds Monday night at the Chabad Center for Jewish Student Live at Binghamton University, according to the center. Organizers of…
Israeli and Jewish aid officials are denying an Israeli TV report alleging that Ethiopian immigrant women have been coerced into taking contraceptive shots. The report, which aired Saturday night on Israeli Educational Television, charged that coercive contraception is behind a 50 percent decline in the Ethiopian birth rate in Israel over the last decade. Ethiopian…
Chabad of Arizona asked the state Department of Corrections to allow inmates to light menorahs during Chanukah using real flames. Arizona is one of seven states that do not allow prison inmates to light menorahs using real candles or oil, Chabad told the Arizona Republic newspaper. “It’s wrong to deny their religious freedom, especially when…
Jacob Stein, who served as chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations during the Yom Kippur War of 1973, has died. Stein died on Dec. 8, the first night of Chanukah. As the Presidents Conference chairman during the Yom Kippur War, he reportedly was influential in convincing the Nixon administration to…
One Israeli Arab election candidate aims to lead his community out of the margins of Israeli politics – saying their interests have been overshadowed for too long by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Atef Krinawi says he would even be willing to make an unprecedented electoral alliance with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud, the party to…
Australian officials are investigating whether cattle shown being abused at Israel’s largest slaughterhouse are from Australia. The Australian Department of Agriculture told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Tuesday the livestock at the abattoir near Beit Shean could be from Australia. “It’s a reasonable expectation,” Australian Department of Agriculture deputy secretary Phillip Glide said “We’re conducting an…
