With the European Football Championships just around the corner, the public debate on anti-Semitism and racism in general is gaining momentum in Poland, out of a fear for disruptions by extremists during the games. Security authorities across the country have been put on alert ahead of the UEFA Euro 2012, which is set to begin…
An Israel Defense Forces soldier and a Palestinian militant were killed in an exchange of fire on the Israel-Gaza border on Friday morning. The exchange of fire ensued after a militant breached the border fence into Israel in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. At approximately 5.30 A.M., the IDF spotted an armed person…
The Reform movement, the Anti-Defamation League and Rabbis for Human Rights-NA welcomed a court decision ruling unconstitutional an application of the Defense of Marriage Act. The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in Boston, on Thursday upheld a lower court’s ruling that denying gay couples federal benefits accorded to straight couples was…
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein accepted the endorsement of J Street’s political action committee. Feinstein (D-Calif.), who is seen as a mainstream pro-Israel politician, joins Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Rep. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) as Senate candidates who have received JStreetPAC’s endorsement for the 2012 election cycle. “Senator Feinstein joins a long…
Earlier Thursday, Madonna donated 580 tickets to her show in Tel Aviv to members of the Israeli and Palestinian peace camps, who are set to take part in a special tribunal on peace. The singer met with Israeli and Palestinian peace activists on Wednesday, ahead of her concert in front of an estimated 30,000 fans…
Nonprofit groups that feed the needy say they may decide to go on strike for a day or two if they don’t get up to $64 million in the upcoming budget. The groups told Israel’s welfare and social services minister, Moshe Kahlon, at a meeting this week that they could either close down or refuse…
A poll showed American Jews strongly favor tax increases for the wealthy and tend to back labor in disputes with management. The poll, released Thursday by the Workmen’s Circle, showed 65 percent of respondents favored raising taxes on those who earn more than $200,000 a year and that 61 percent tend to side with the…
In further remarks on migrant workers from Africa, Interior Minister Eli Yishai said Thursday that many Israeli women have been raped by migrant workers “but do not complain out of fear of being stigmatized as having contracted AIDS.” In an interview with Israeli newspaper Maariv, Yishai stated that the solution to the current problem is…
Yad Vashem and the Council of Europe have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote Holocaust education throughout the council’s 47 member states. The agreement between the council, an international organization promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation,…
The Tel Aviv district prosecutor brought charges on Thursday against a group of minors who are accused of organizing and carrying out a series of attacks againt Sudanese and Eritrean migrants. The attacks were carried out last month, reportedly with the aim of avenging attacks that had been publicized recently in the Israeli media. According…
President Obama celebrated the values of communities petitioning government at a White House reception honoring Jewish American Heritage Month. “We don’t just celebrate all that American Jews have done for our country; we also look toward the future,” he said. “And as we do, I know that those of you in this room, but folks…
