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Experts Question Wisdom of Boycotting Hamas
Jerusalem – As Palestinian leaders set off for Mecca this week in the latest effort at Hamas-Fatah peace talks, well-placed sources in Jerusalem were speaking of growing doubts within Israeli officialdom over the current policy of boycotting Hamas. “People in different government agencies are well aware of the problematic nature of the present policy and…
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Orthodox Slam Effort To Monitor Conditions at Kosher Factories
As rabbis of Conservative Judaism begin work on a new, ethically motivated food certification, they are coming under attack from a number of Orthodox kosher authorities. The Conservative movement decided last December to create a Tsedek Hekhsher, or justice certification, after finding substandard working conditions at the country’s largest kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa. The…
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Bush’s Proposed Budget Cuts Criticized
Washington – The new budget presented Monday by President Bush to Congress has Jewish groups worried over proposed cuts in social spending. Bush’s proposed $3 trillion budget for 2008, which will now be debated in Congress, includes a significant increase in spending on defense, national security and homeland security, while cutting back on Medicare, Medicaid…
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Ku Klux Klan Seen Gaining Strength
After years of dwindling activity, the Ku Klux Klan is staging a comeback, according to a newly released report from the Anti-Defamation League. The report, “Extremism in America: Ku Klux Klan,” found that the notorious white-supremacist group has re-emerged in the past year as a potent force. The ADL, which monitors hate groups, found that…
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Berlin Pushes E.U. Ban on Shoah Denial
Germany’s push for all European Union member states to adopt legislation criminalizing Holocaust denials is gaining traction as several key countries that expressed concerns over potential free-speech infringement have indicated a new willingness to join the effort. Berlin announced early this year that during its six-month presidency of the E.U., it would press to make…
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Jerusalem Shuts Diaspora Affairs Office
The Israeli government has shut down the office of the Minister of Diaspora Affairs, raising concerns that the government may be giving less attention to the already weakening bonds between Israel and the rest of the Jewish world. Last week, according to a spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the contracts of the last two…
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Quartet Stands Firm on Sanctions Against the P.A.
Washington – As Palestinian leaders left this week for Saudi-brokered talks aimed at reconciling the Fatah and Hamas factions, the Bush administration was sending a tough message, making clear that a Palestinian national unity government will not necessarily pave the way to international recognition. Stepping up its own involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the administration…
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Report Funded by U.S. Group Triggers Debate Over Arab Autonomy
Washington – The fierce debate over a report calling for greater autonomy for Israel’s Arab population and questioning the Jewish character of the state is spilling over to the American Jewish community. The report, titled “Future Vision,” was issued by Israel’s National Committee of the Heads of Arab Local Authorities. Funding came from the New…
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Left-wing Critics of Israel Launch Blog To Combat Alleged Intimidation
In the wake of an increasing flurry of attacks leveled against left-wing Jewish groups by their right-wing counterparts, one dovish group is fighting back. Jewish Voice for Peace, a San Francisco-based organization, recently launched a blog to track what it describes as a growing epidemic of intimidation and harassment from fellow Jews seeking to stifle…
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Longtime Leader Breaks Glass Ceiling at Reform Seminary
In the late 1980s, Barbara Benioff Friedman sat in a meeting of the UJA-Federation of New York’s distribution committee and was appalled by what she heard: During a heated debate over which summer camps the charity should fund, a Reform Jewish woman stood up and argued that it was Orthodox camps that merited the dollars,…
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New Study Affirms Jewish Population Above 6 Million
A study that posits itself as the new authority on Jewish demographic data says that the American Jewish population is between 6 million and 6.4 million, and potentially as high as 7.5 million. The new figures are the latest and most powerful refutation of the 2000-2001 National Jewish Population Survey, which found a Jewish population…
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