The Palestinians appealed to the United Nations Security Council to stop Israel from making plans to build 3,000 apartments in a controversial area outside of Jerusalem. In a letter to the Security Council, the U.N. General Assembly and the U.N. secretary-general, the Palestinian representative to the United Nations said the announced plans represent “Israel’s contemptuous…
The heads of Germany’s 16 federal states unanimously agreed on Thursday to push ahead with a legal bid to ban the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) despite reservations from Chancellor Angela Merkel. The agreement follows a similar recommendation by regional interior ministers on Wednesday. The Bundesrat upper house, which represents the federal states, will now…
President Obama for the second straight year was named the world’s most powerful person by Forbes magazine, which placed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 23rd on the list. The list includes 71 individuals – one for every 100 million people on the planet. Other notable Jews on the list included Ben Bernake, chairman of the…
Jordan’s king visited the West Bank on Thursday in a show of support for Palestinians stung by Israel’s decision to expand settlements after their successful bid for de facto U.N. recognition of statehood. King Abdullah, whose country is at peace with Israel and an ally of the United States, made no immediate comment after flying…
The Union for Reform Judaism criticized Israel for its decision to build new settlement housing and the Palestinians for unilaterally seeking upgraded status at the United Nations. The newly adopted policy statement was adopted overwhelmingly on Sunday following a debate at the group’s board of trustees meeting in St. Petersburg, Fla. More than 200 board…
Four Jewish Democrats kept or earned top slots on U.S. House of Representatives committees. Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) preserved his top slot on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, as did Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) on the Energy Committee, after the caucus’ standing committee announced its selections on Tuesday. Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) ascended to…
A Swedish art gallery owner has defended his gallery’s decision to show a painting made out of Holocaust victims’ ashes as “having no moral flaws.” Martin Bryder, who owns a gallery in Lund, told Sverige Radio that he “sees no moral problem or flaw with exhibiting” a painting which the artist Carl Michael von Hausswolff…
Israel once tried to kill Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in a botched assassination attempt on the streets of the Jordanian capital, Amman. Fifteen years later, it is starting to view him in a slightly different light and Israeli analysts say he might yet prove the man who can open a dialogue between the Palestinian Islamist…
European Union states struggled to agree on Tuesday on a common response to Israel’s plans to expand settlements in the West Bank, highlighting the divisions within the bloc over how to tackle the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. At a meeting in Brussels, ambassadors responsible for security issues discussed the possibility of all 27 EU states writing to…
Cuba reacted angrily on Wednesday to a U.N. ruling that its imprisonment of American contractor Alan Gross was arbitrary and accused the United States of lying about his health. Josefina Vidal, a Foreign Ministry official, said Cuba received a copy of the yet to be published decision by the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention…
A man charged with planning to blow up synagogues in New York City pleaded guilty to the state charges against him. Ahmed Ferhani, 27, an Algerian immigrant living in New York, entered the plea Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court. It is the first conviction under a state terror statute that went into effect…
