The opening performance of an Israeli dance troupe at the Edinburgh International Festival was disrupted four times last night, as protesters in the audience shouted “free Palestine.” The Batsheva Dance Company members stopped as the protesters were removed by security, but then continued. The disruption was not a surprise, as pro-Palestinian activists had announced it…
The president of Chile’s Palestine Federation, Mauricio Abu Ghosh, told the radio station Cooperativa that “the Nazis were small fry compared to today’s Zionists, who make up the State of Israel.” He also said, “There were never warm relations between Chilean Jews and Palestinians living in Chile.” The Israel embassy stated its “concern” about the…
Prosecutors in Berlin dismissed a criminal complaint lodged against a rabbi for performing circumcisions. The Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday that the complaint for “causing bodily harm” against Rabbi Yitshak Ehrenberg was dropped on August 15 as “unfounded.” An opponent of circumcision lodged the complaint last month after Ehrenberg defended the practice on a television…
A Jewish politician from Brazil said he would sue a colleague for suggesting he was a Nazi. Isaac Tayah, president of the city council of Manaus, said he would file charges in a federal court for racism, libel and defamation, according to A Crtitica, a Brazilian news site. Earlier this month, councilman Mario Frota published…
General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of U.S. armed forces, does not wish to be “complicit” in a unilateral Israeli strike on Iran. The Guardian reported that Dempsey said in London that such an attack would “clearly delay but probably not destroy Iran’s nuclear program.” He added, “I don’t want to…
President Obama’s approach to Iran has made Americans “less secure,” Mitt Romney said in his speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination. “Every American was relieved the day President Obama gave the order, and Seal Team Six took out Osama bin Laden,” Romney said Thursday evening at the Republican National Convention. “On another front, every American…
Israel will return to Egypt the lids of two ancient sarcophagi that had held mummies. The coffin lids were confiscated in Jerusalem in April by the Israel Antiquities Authority, according to media reports. The ancient decorated wooden covers, determined to be authentic and thousands of years old, were stolen from Egypt and smuggled first to…
Israeli Paralympic swimmer Inbal Pezaro finally brought Israel its first medal in London – at the Paralympic Games. Pezaro, 25, took a bronze in the 50-meter freestyle final in the S5 disability swimming class. She finished with 37.89 seconds, coming in respectively behind a Ukranian and a Spanish swimmer. The athlete, who has been swimming…
Liz Lochhead, the Scot’s Makar, or national poet has joined a group calling for a boycott of the Israeli dancing group Batsheva, set to perform at the Edinburgh International Festival. Pro-Palestinian activists have announced they would attempt to disrupt the opening performance on Thursday night, which was attended by Israel’s Culture and Sports Minister Limor…
Several recent rabbinic rulings that have invalidated certain kinds of tefillin straps as unfit for use are causing an uproar in the Orthodox community. A number of rabbis in Jerusalem, Chicago, Brooklyn and Lakewood, N.J., have issued rulings prohibiting the use of tefillin straps (retzuot in Hebrew) that peel, and so-called leatherboard straps, according to…
Local police have indicated that witness accounts do not corroborate allegations of a hate crime by Michigan State student Zachary Tennen, whose jaw was surgically repaired following a recent assault. Detectives from the East Lansing Police Department who are investigating the incident, which took place at a party on Spartan Avenue around 1:30 a.m. Sunday,…
