The Spielberg clan has honored one of its own – not filmmaker Steven or one of his three sisters, but family patriarch Arnold Meyer Spielberg. The family gathered late last month for the conferral of the first Inspiration Award by the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation Institute on the 95-year-old senior Spielberg, himself the…
Delmon Young, the Detroit Tigers outfielder arrested in New York for allegedly attacking a group of men and making anti-Semitic remarks, apologized for his actions after a week-long suspension was lifted. During a pregame interview with reporters on May 5, Young apologized to his teammates, the Tigers organization, the victim’s family, Major League Baseball, friends,…
Actress Mila Kunis said she had to hide her Jewishness as a youngster in Ukraine and was miserable during her early years in the United States. In an interview published in Britain’s The Sun on Saturday, Kunis said that most of her family was killed in the Holocaust and that she had to hide that…
Moshe Kagan, a passionate labor Zionist and longtime board member of the Claims Conference, has died. Kagan died on May 6 at the age of 92. A passionate labor Zionist, Kagan was a founder and president of Americans for Progressive Israel/Hashomer Hatzair, a predecessor of Meretz USA . Meretz USA has described him as “an…
Israel’s Cabinet agreed to hold early elections for the 19th Knesset on September 4. The Cabinet on Sunday morning authorized the Ministerial Committee on Legislation to submit a law for Knesset approval to hold elections on September 4. New elections did not need to occur before October 2013, the official end of the current Knesset’s…
Alan Gross pledged to return to Cuba should the government release him to visit his ailing mother. “I would return to Cuba,” Gross told CNN in a home interview last Friday. “You know, you – you can quote me on that. I’m saying it live. I would return to Cuba if they let me visit…
The Obama administration is invested in nurturing the “Arab Spring,” said Denis McDonough, the deputy national security adviser. “While the change in the Middle East is working against Iran, it is our belief that it can and will work for the United States,” McDonough told a Washington Institute for Near East Policy retreat. “A more…
Polling projections and a partial vote count show Francois Hollande becoming the first Socialist president of France in nearly two decades. With half the votes counted nationwide, Hollande was leading the incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, 50.8 percent to 49.2 percent. Sarkozy, the center-left candidate, was considered the favored candidate among French Jews. Polls showed Hollande finishing…
Heirs of Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley have sent a warning letter to MK Aryeh Eldad, threatening legal action over the unauthorized use of the song “Iron Lion Zion” for propaganda purposes. In the film clip, which was removed from the Internet in light of the warning, the National Union MK can be seen with…
Tel Aviv is the best gay destination in the world. That’s what a worldwide survey hosted in January by GayCities.com and American Airlines showed, and Israeli diplomats in Western countries proudly put the fact on display. Many liberal pro-Palestinian activists saw this as “pinkwashing” the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. The website pinkwatchingisrael.com called…
Israel’s Supreme Court held a hearing on the government’s request to delay the razing of the Ulpana neighborhood in the West Bank settlement of Beit El. The three-judge panel criticized the state’s request during Sunday’s hearing, calling it “unprecedented” to review a closed case. The high court had ruled in September that the five apartment…
