Europe’s main Orthodox rabbinical body is urging Jews in Germany to uphold the commandment to circumcise newborn sons, despite a court ruling in Germany that said circumcising young boys could be considered a criminal act. Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis, said his organization is ready to back Jews in challenging…
The Claims Conference board approved $272 million in new allocations for the next two fiscal years. The bulk of the spending approved at Wednesday’s meeting in Washington will go to programs that aid survivors, including home care, soup kitchens, meals on wheels and medical assistance programs. Slightly less than $36 million will go to support…
Anti-Israel billboards showing a series of four maps to bolster claims that Israel has systematically confiscated land from the Palestinians have appeared at some New York train stations. The ads that went on display this week at Metro North train stations in Westchester County show a succession of shrinking Palestinian territories in four maps and…
Two African migrants were injured after a fire was allegedly set at the entrance to their Jerusalem apartment. The fire broke out early Thursday morning; firefighters reportedly found rags soaked in an accelerant at the entrance to the apartment. The residents of the apartment, a man and his pregnant wife, both from Eritrea, were taken…
The National Jewish Democratic Council, citing peace among Jewish groups, has taken down a petition calling on Republicans not to accept money from Sheldon Adelson. “Regarding our recent campaign surrounding Sheldon Adelson, we don’t believe we engaged in character assassination,” said the statement sent late Wednesday by David Harris, NJDC’s president, and Marc Stanley, its…
Dutch Jewish author Berthe Meijer, who grew up in Anne Frank’s neighborhood and was imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen at the same time, has died. Meijer died Tuesday of cancer, The Associated Press reported. Her 2010 book “Life After Anne Frank” compared her life after the Holocaust to what Frank’s might have been if she had survived….
AIPAC cited “lawlessness” in Egypt and the country’s election of an Islamist president in its latest fundraising appeal. The appeal to American Israel Public Affairs Committee donors sent Wednesday begins by noting the sharp rise in rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip in recent months. It then says that “Attacks against Israelis emanated not only…
The U.S.-based Episcopal Church adopted a resolution at its General Convention Assembly calling for “a negotiated two-state solution” and “positive investment” as responses to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Also at the meeting in Indianapolis, delegates tabled a resolution urging “corporate engagement” by the church and dissemination of “information on products” made in the West Bank. The…
Roseanne Barr, the Emmy-winning comedienne, Kabbalist, and self-proclaimed “People-ist” will not be appearing on the Green Party’s ballot this coming election, ABC News reports. Jill Stein, a Harvard-trained physician and the environmentalist party’s presidential hopeful, announced today that her vice presidential partner will be the relatively unknown anti-poverty activist Cheri Honkala. Barr, best known for…
Documents detailing a plot to attack Jewish neighborhoods in London were found on the body of an African leader of al-Qaida. The plans, which included plots for a kidnapping and attacks on Eton College and the Ritz and Dorchester hotels in London, were found on the body of Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, 38, who was shot…
Mayor of Tel Aviv, Ron Huldai, may have lost (temporarily?) the support of his more radical and liberal constituents, following the heavy-handed way his municipal inspectors treated the new wave of social protestors in recent weeks, but at least on the pages of the Monocle, the international jet-set’s style bible, he is still one of…
