Two-thirds of the Kadima Party’s 28 lawmakers are leaving the party. Several announced their intentions to step down on Wednesday, when the party made public its Knesset list for the Jan. 22 elections. The list was created by the party’s Arrangements Committee instead of by primary. Former Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik said she was taking…
Germany took a step towards banning the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) on Wednesday when politicians formally recommended going ahead with hotly disputed legal proceedings as dozens of right-wing party backers boldly demonstrated outside. Calls for a ban of the NPD, which critics say is inspired by Hitler’s Nazis, have grown since it emerged last…
The family of John Demjanjuk appealed the decision by German prosecutors to close an investigation into the convicted Nazi war criminal’s death. Prosecutors in the German state of Bavaria late last month determined that Demjanjuk’s death was not hastened by medication administered at a nursing home in Bavaria. Demjanjuk died while he was awaiting an…
Israel remains committed to a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, despite worries among the Jewish state’s European allies over its plans to build more settlements. “We remain committed to a negotiated settlement between us and our Palestinian neighbours,” Netanyahu said during a visit to Prague. “That solution is…
A U.S. Senate amendment that would have penalized Palestinians for seeking non-member state status at the United Nations was not attached to its intended law. The National Defense Authorization Act, passed late Tuesday, did not include among its amendments one that would cut funding to the Palestinians should they use their status, gained last week,…
Israel moved forward on Wednesday with plans to build some 3,000 settler homes in one of the most sensitive areas of the occupied West Bank, in defiance of international protests. A Defence Ministry official said architects and contractors appeared before a subcommittee of the military-run Civil Administration in the West Bank and registered their plans…
Former New York Mayor Edward I. Koch was hospitalized for a lung infection, a spokesman said. George Arzt, Koch’s spokesman, said he was being treated at with antibiotics for an infection in one lung at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. Arzt told the New York Times that he expected the former mayor to be released in…
Two Israeli films are on the Academy Awards’ short list for the best documentary category, along with one created by a 2012 Forward 50 selection. “5 Broken Cameras,” directed by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi; and “The Gatekeepers,” directed by Dror Moreh, were among the 15 finalists culled from 126 films in the best documentary…
Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa compared the bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish center which killed 85 people to “NATO bombings of Libya.” Correa made the remarks Tuesday during a television interview with Argentina’s C5N news channel. Correa was in the country to receive an award from the Universidad Nacional de la Plata. He made the…
The leaders of a prominent New York City synagogue sent out an email to congregants praising the U.N. vote that elevated the Palestinians to non-member state status. “The vote at the U.N. yesterday is a great moment for us as citizens of the world,” said the email, signed by the B’nai Jeshurun’s three rabbis, cantor,…
One of two New York men charged last year with plotting to blow up synagogues and churches in Manhattan pleaded guilty on Tuesday to 10 charges and faces a decade in prison. Ahmed Ferhani, 27, admitted to conspiring to attack the biggest synagogue in Manhattan as well as churches to send a message of violence…
