Ukrainian police on Thursday arrested three teenagers suspected of desecrating a mass grave of Holocaust victims near Rivne. A spokesperson for the Ukrainian police said police believe the suspects, aged 17-19, sprayed swastikas on the monument near the Rivne killing site in western Ukraine on June 6. Rabbi Shneor Schneersohn, chief rabbi of Rivne, told…
Close to 9,000 American Jews have so far signed a petition calling on the Presbyterian Church reject proposals that would divest from three companies doing business with Israel. The petition, launched Monday and spearheaded by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and the Israel Action Network, will be sent ahead the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s biennial…
A rabbi who was accused of stealing a 96-year-old’s wheelchair said he was taking leave from the rabbinate. Alan Abrams announced the decision Thursday on his blog. That came just hours after the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles had written an in-depth article about him, the paper reported. Abrams, 50, was accused of taking…
Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman has been told that he may soon be indicted on charges of fraud, money laundering and break of trust. The punishment for money laundering alone could be up to a 10-year prison sentence. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein informed the Kadima Party leader of the possibility on Wednesday, reported Haaretz. The…
Talks are underway between a group of right-wing activists and representatives of the attorney general’s office and the Prime Minister’s Office, in an effort to reach an agreement over the apartment buildings in Beit El’s Ulpana neighborhood, Haaretz has learned. According to the outlines of the agreement, the buildings will not be demolished. In exchange,…
The board of trustees of the University Center of Samaria in the West Bank settlement of Ariel approved the appointment of a future president of the institution last week, on the expectation that it will get full status as an Israeli university this fall and become the first Israeli university in the West Bank. The…
A Republican and a Democrat from Florida urged Congress to act on legislation that would allow Holocaust survivors to pursue civil action against insurance companies. During a Thursday press conference flanked by several Holocaust survivors, U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs chairwoman Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) emphasized that the unpaid insurance policies for Holocaust survivors…
Mohsen Sazegara, one of the founders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and a former Deputy Prime Minister of Iran, has called on U.S. Jews to help refocus U.S. Administration efforts away from Iran’s nuclear program and toward changing the regime. In an unprecedented appearance before the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations Sazegara –…
About 120 Hungarians donned paper yellow stars with the word “Jude” (“Jew” in German) written on them and lined up on the bank of the Danube in downtown Budapest to protest recent anti-Semitic and racist incidents in Hungary. Local media said the demonstration Thursday afternoon was a Flashmob organized on Facebook. The protesters staged the…
Tens of thousands of people are expected to take part on Friday in Tel Aviv’s 14th Gay Pride Parade, which will kick off from Gan Meir park, rounding up a week of gay pride events. Traffic is expected to be gridlocked as several city thoroughfares will be closed to traffic from 7 A.M. to 4…
President Obama will honor Israeli President Shimon Peres with a White House dinner after he awards him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The dinner, to take place on June 13, will have 140 guests, including “former Presidents of the United of States of America, Secretaries of State, Prime Ministers and ministers, senior diplomats and senior…
