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…
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…
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
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Josie loved the book “Angel Girl,” by Laurie Friedman. She was a fan of Friedman’s Mallory books, chapter books about the travails of a modern-day third grader: friendships, pets, moving, having her mom begin teaching music at the school she attends (mortifying!). But “Angel Girl” was very different — a non-fiction picture book filled with…
Haifa, Israel — Israelis started the day with news that three Katyusha rockets had been fired over the Israel-Lebanon border, landing in the coastal town of Nahariya. One of the rockets hit a nursing home, leaving one resident with a broken leg, one with bruises, and others in shock. The IDF responded with artillery fire…
Like a lot of other people at Hazon’s third annual food conference, I found myself shopping at the Farmers’ Market on Sunday morning. I hadn’t really planned to do this, but when someone asked me to meet there – I can’t even remember for what – I had difficulty resisting the urge to pick up…
