Nearly two dozen faith groups joined an initiative led by the Reform Jewish movement calling on President Obama to reconsider his decision not to issue an anti-discrimination executive order. In Thursday’s letter, 23 organizations expressed disappointment that the president did not issue an executive order to include sexual orientation and gender identity as prohibited forms…
A South Carolina teacher arrested on charges of assault and battery for a Holocaust lesson that went awry may have been under the influence of a medication at the time. Patricia Mulholland, a veteran seventh-grade social studies teacher at Bluffton Middle School, reportedly told police that she may have accidentally taken some of her husband’s…
A suburban New York synagogue has launched eviction proceedings against its longtime kosher caterer. Long Island’s Woodbury Jewish Center can revoke the license of Morrell Caterers, the exclusive caterer for three area synagogues, because there is no contract, the Nassau County Supreme Court ruled this week. Justice Vito DeStefano also vacated a temporary restraining order…
The White House removed a reference to Gertrude Stein from its Jewish Heritage Month proclamation. Stein – along with Aaron Copland, Albert Einstein and Louis Brandeis – were deleted from the proclamation sent out Wednesday night. The proclamation issued Tuesday had listed the four as Jews who “have brought to bear some of our country’s…
Newt Gingrich, bowing out of the race for the Republican presidential nod, thanked Miriam and Sheldon Adelson for helping to sustain his campaign. “We share a combined concern about the Middle East and a combined concern about American security and the survival of Israel,” Gingrich, the former U.S. House of Representatives speaker, said Wednesday in…
Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday harshly condemned former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, and former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin for downplaying the threat from Iran, saying the three are serving Tehran. In an interview with Yisrael Hayom newspaper, Barak denounced Olmert, Dagan, and Diskin’s continued criticisms of him and…
Residents of Tel Aviv, Gush Dan and central Israel complained Thursday morning of a harsh chemical substance that could be felt in the air. Many people described the smell as similar to the smell of chlorine. Initially, the Home Front Command believed the source of the smell could be gas drilling near Nitzanim in southern…
The general conference of the United Methodist Church voted not to divest from three companies that trade with Israel. Two-thirds of the approximately 1,000 delegates to the conference voted Wednesday in Tampa, Fla., against a motion to divest from Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions and Hewlett-Packard. Divestment advocates claim that products manufactured by these companies are used…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can rest easy after reading the results of the latest Haaretz-Dialog poll: Not only does he trounce all his rivals on the question of who is most fit to lead the country, but an absolute majority of Israelis reject the aspersions cast on him last week by former Shin Bet…
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party submitted a bill to dissolve the Knesset on Wednesday, as Israel’s political system readies for upcoming early general elections. Kadima released a statement following the Likud’s submission, saying that the party would “support every bill to move up the elections at any date the Knesset agrees to.” Israel’s…
A Baltimore judge will not drop the charges against two Jewish brothers accused of beating a black teenager. Judge Pamela White on Tuesday denied the motion to drop the charges against Avi and Eliyahu Werdesheim, according to The Associated Press. The brothers have pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree assault, false imprisonment and carrying…
