French police reportedly are investigating fresh acts of vandalism in two Jewish cemeteries and a municipal building. On Monday in Paris, police arrested two men suspected of digging up two corpses at the Pantin cemetery, according to a statement from the municipality. They were found to be in possession of a number of human teeth…
Forensic experts took samples from Yasser Arafat’s corpse in the West Bank on Tuesday, trying to determine if he was murdered with the hard-to-trace radioactive poison, polonium. Palestinians witnessed the funeral of their hero and longtime leader eight years ago, but conspiracy theories surrounding his death have never been laid to rest. Many are convinced…
A Hungarian far-right politician urged the government to draw up lists of Jews who pose a “national security risk”, stirring outrage among Jewish leaders who saw echoes of fascist policies that led to the Holocaust. Marton Gyongyosi, leader of Hungary’s third-strongest political party Jobbik, said the list was necessary because of heightened tensions following the…
Former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni announced her candidacy on Tuesday in a January general election, pledging to “fight for peace” with the Palestinians as a centrist alternative to Israel’s right-wing leadership. Livni, voted out as the head of the main opposition Kadima party in an internal ballot in March, told a news conference she had…
Pro-settler hardliners swept a vote on Monday held by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, effectively tossing four of his closest allies and backers of Middle East diplomacy off a list of candidates running with him in a Jan. 22 election. Party members ranked candidates on a list for the national poll to determine which…
Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn finds out on Wednesday whether the last sex offence case against him in France will be dropped, 18 months after rape accusations ended his presidential ambitions. The 63-year-old has asked a court in northern France to halt a judicial inquiry to determine whether he should stand trial on pimping charges…
The Egyptian-born Coptic Christian who made the anti-Islam film that sparked protests across the Muslim world has no regrets about his insulting portrayal of the Prophet Mohammad, according to an interview with the New York Times. In his first public comments since the 14-minute trailer for his film, “Innocence of Muslims,” gained notoriety in September,…
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee named Alan Gill, its longtime executive director of international relations and a resident of Israel, as the organization’s new CEO. Gill will take over on Jan. 31, 2013 from interim CEO Darrell Friedman, who stepped in after the abrupt resignation of CEO Steven Schwager in June. The JDC, which…
Egyptian mediators began separate talks on Monday with Hamas and with Israel to flesh out details of a ceasefire agreed last week that ended eight days of fighting in the Gaza Strip. An Egyptian official told Reuters the talks would discuss Palestinian demands for the opening of more Israeli crossings into Gaza – a move…
Ehud Barak understood that he had no chance of crossing the electoral threshold in the January election so instead of conducting a campaign that would end in public humiliation and debts, he decided to cut his losses and forgo contending as the head of the Atzmaut party. If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants him as…
The Islamist group Hamas said on Monday it was backing President Mahmoud Abbas’s attempt to win more clout for Palestinians at the United Nations, the latest sign of a rapprochement between the political rivals. The Palestinians are registered as an observer entity at the U.N. and Abbas wants to see them upgraded to a “non-member…
סאָװעטיש־ייִדיש איז געװען אַ ראַדיקאַלער עקספּערימענט, װאָס פֿאַרנעמט אַ װיכטיקן פּלאַץ אױף דער װעלטמאַפּע פֿון ייִדישער קולטור
