Reform and Conservative rabbinical leaders called for increased gun controls in the wake of a spate of shootings. “Our tradition teaches: ‘Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor’ (Leviticus 19:16),” said a statement Thursday issued by Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, the executive vice president of the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly. “As people of…
Several hundred kippah-wearing Jews and non-Jews marched in Sweden as a sign of solidarity with Malmo’s Jews. About 400 marchers gathered Saturday outside the synagogue in Malmö and walked to Möllevångs Square, a part of Malmö with many Muslim immigrants from the Middle East. Speakers included Brigitta Ohlsson, minister for European Affairs; Willy Silberstein, head…
Israel should consider drafting its Arab and Haredi population to defend their neighborhoods, according to a prominent American Jewish leader. Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, told the Times of Israel that the proposal would undercut ideological arguments since draftees would take care of their own neighborhoods. “You’re going to be protecting your own…
A jailed sex offender in Ireland has brought a High Court challenge against prison authorities to compel them to meet his kosher dietary needs. At Dublin’s High Court on Wednesday, Ivan Peter Gan, aka Peter Ivan Dunne, sought to bring judicial review proceedings against the Governor of Arbour Hill Prison, the Prison Services, and the…
Brazil’s Jewish community sent directors of five Brazilian schools named after Anne Frank on a Holocaust study tour in Amsterdam. The study trip is the first step in the creation of an educational network, according to an announcement by CONIB, the central body representing the Brazilian Jewish community. The network’s schools would teach tolerance according…
South Africa’s chief rabbi has called on the country’s deputy minister of international relations to resign, saying he is unfit to hold public office. Earlier this week, South African politician Ebrahim Ebrahim issued a statement saying that South Africans would be discouraged from visiting Israel unless they were involved in peace efforts. In an open…
Fifty descendants of officers of the era Nazi SS, Wehrmacht and World War II-era German police officers will be among the participants in the March of Life, which will start on Sunday at Auschwitz. Several hundred people from Poland, Israel and Germany will take part in the program, which will commemorate the victims of the…
Israel’s deputy health minister has reportedly asked the Attorney General to cancel an exhibition in Tel Aviv of preserved human bodies. Yaakov Litzman, a leader in United Torah Judaism, a haredi political party, told Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein that Israeli law required bodies to be buried within 48 hours of death unless a government medical…
Paraguay’s soccer association has suspended a Jewish team president for hurling racial slurs at a colleague of Arab descent. During a match last month, the president of Asuncion’s Olimpia soccer team, Marcelo Recanate, accosted Juan José Zapag, the president of a rival team. Recanate will be suspended for four months and suffer a 60-month reduction…
Israeli policy in Jerusalem is harming the city’s holy sites, Jordan’s King Abdullah said. Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency on Thursday quoted the king as telling clergymen from Jerusalem in Amman that “Israel’s acts of radicalization harm the holy places” in Jerusalem. “The coerced emigration of Arab Christians and Arab Muslim from the Holy City…
Great Britain’s chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, has resigned as a supporter of an interfaith charity after it circulated an anti-Israel campaign. Sacks said he was unable to continue working with the Wyndham Place Charlemagne Trust after it sent supporters details of an initiative organized by the Quaker Council for European Affairs that attacks European Union…
