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Helen Suzman’s Fight To ‘Put Things Right’
Much of the civilized world is mourning the death of Helen Suzman, whose tireless efforts on behalf of the disenfranchised and the downtrodden were a bright and noble light that shone in the darkness of the apartheid parliament. Helen has left a mighty legacy of achievement and set a potent example of holding power to…
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If at First You Don’t Succeed… Hasidic Singer, Subject of Rabbinic Ban, Tries Again
Hasidic singing sensation Lipa Schmeltzer was set to perform last March before a crowd of thousands at Madison Square Garden’s WaMu Theater in New York. The concert, a charity fundraiser, was billed as “The Big Event.” Then, less than three weeks before the concert date, 33 ultra-Orthodox rabbis — including some of the community’s most…
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Peace Groups Lose First Major Gaza Challenge On Capitol Hill
Washington — As Israel’s military campaign in Gaza entered its second week, Capitol Hill became the latest battleground where Jewish hawks and doves are trying to shape the American response to the ongoing violence. Dovish groups bombarded lawmakers with calls and e-mails in an attempt to influence the wording of pro-Israel resolutions being shaped in…
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What Happens to Gaza When the Fighting Stops?
Haifa, Israel — The immediate fate of a battered Gaza seemed to hang in the balance, as negotiations for a cease-fire ramped up among Israel, Egypt and Hamas, with the United States and other Arab countries active on the sidelines. As the diplomats negotiated, Gazans — their food supplies depleted, and their access to clean…
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New Wave of Pro-Israel Action Hits the Streets
Los Angeles — Within days of Israel’s initial air strikes on Gaza, the grass-roots pro-Israel group StandWithUs had set up a “Web Situation Room” to counter online criticism of the Jewish state. In Israel, The Israel Project, which works to bolster Israel’s image in the media, had created a temporary office in Ashkelon, where foreign…
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AJCongress Crippled by Madoff Scandal
One of the Jewish community’s most storied national organizations revealed that it has been gutted by the financial collapse of investor Bernard Madoff, losing the vast majority of its endowment
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Helen Suzman: Jew to the World, Not Always at Home
Johannesburg, South Africa — Helen Suzman, who died January 1 at 91, has been praised worldwide for her long career and courage as an opposition politician in South Africa’s apartheid-era parliament. A daughter of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, she was lionized by Jewish organizations in the United States and elsewhere as an exemplar of Jewish principles…
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Appraisal: Suzman’s Courage Failed Her
Cape Town — Helen Suzman has died, and the praise for her is deafening — deafening and uncritical. She was indeed a courageous person who, for 13 of her 36 years in South Africa’s whites-only parliament, was a lone voice of opposition to the brutality of apartheid. She had come a long way from the…
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Timeline: The Gaza Strip, From Disengagement to Operation Cast Lead
Israel and Hamas are exchanging not only gunfire, but also mutual accusations as to which side is to blame for breaking the fragile cease-fire. The two sides had reached an informal agreement six months ago on stopping military actions, but attempts to renew the period of calm fell short, as each side blamed the other…
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American Friends of Hebrew University Honors Bill Gates
BILL GATES TOUTS ISRAEL’S HEBREW U. AS AGRICULTURAL LABORATORY TO THE WORLD Calling the Einstein Award, presented to him at the December 2, 2008, American Friends of the Hebrew University gala, “the goy award,” Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates, its first recipient, got a roaring welcome from the nearly 600 guests at the New…
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Reeling in New York
For New York moviegoers shrinking at the prospect of Tom Cruise goose-stepping through a Nazi-era spy thriller, the 18th annual New York Jewish Film Festival arrives this month with an eclectic roster of Jewish-oriented films. This year’s edition includes 32 features and shorts — 28 of which are making their world, American or New York…
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