Watching the whirlwind that threatened to engulf Ukraine in the wake of last week’s tainted presidential runoff, few Americans would deny feeling some measure of cosmic dread. Right there, before our eyes, in that nation of 48 million along the Black Sea, the fate of the world’s march toward democracy might be unfolding. No one…
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is turning to Jewish organizations to rally support for American efforts to kick-start the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process. In a top-level White House meeting Monday with Jewish communal leaders, Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice announced the administration’s intention to step up efforts to advance the peace process, and said that…
Some of the most influential and controversial Islamic clerics in the Middle East are participating in a plan to launch what organizers describe as the first joint-training institute to produce future moderate sheiks, rabbis, priests and ministers. The unprecedented proposal to create a summer religious institute — where young seminarians from the three faiths would…
Until this week, families made queasy by the violence in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of The Christ” could take in Jesus’ flagellation and death in a kid-friendly cartoon version, “The Animated Passion Trilogy.” The cartoon is an odd spinoff from Gibson’s film, which offended many in the Jewish community. But even stranger is that the…
In the November 26 article “U.N. Committee Passes Resolution,” Amy Goodstein’s position was misstated. She is currently director of United Nations affairs for B’nai Brith International. The November 12 editorial “How the Jews Vote” incorrectly identified the Federalist candidate for U.S. president in 1800. The candidate was John Adams. The Forward 50 entry on Under…
In an embarrassing retreat, the French broadcasting authority asked the country’s top administrative court to ban broadcasting from a pro-Hezbollah TV station less than two weeks after the authority granted the station a license. The High Audiovisual Council, known by its French acronym, CSA, said in a statement that it has requested the court to…
The feud between a pro-Israel media watchdog and a University of Michigan professor is fueling claims of Jewish attempts to silence criticism of Jerusalem and academic misdeeds on the part of pro-Palestinian professors. The president of the Middle East Media Research Institute, Yigal Carmon, has threatened to file suit against Juan Cole, a professor of…
As right-wing opposition mounts to Prime Minister Sharon’s plan to dismantle settlements, several leading Modern Orthodox authorities are staking out a more moderate position. Three prominent rabbis — Rabbi Norman Lamm, chancellor and president emeritus of Yeshiva University; Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, head of Israel’s Har Etzion yeshiva, and Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, a former Sephardic chief…
A coalition of American Jewish organizations this week called on mainline Protestant leaders officially to reject divestment from Israel as a potential advocacy tool. The Jewish coalition issued a detailed statement Tuesday as its official response to the Protestant groups, who have been considering divestment but asked the Jewish organizations to explain why they find…
WASHNGTON — The drive to stop an American company from doing business with Israel has received a prominent boost from a leading human-rights organization. The New York-based Human Rights Watch is urging members to send letters to Caterpillar, a publicly traded heavy-equipment company located in Peoria, Ill., urging it to “immediately suspend” the sale of…
Democratic Dynamo? As top Democrats furiously jockey to be considered among the potential candidates for the post of chairman of the Democratic National Committee, one Jewish figure has surfaced among the lot. Rep. Martin Frost, who lost his seat as a result of Texas’s controversial redistricting plan in what was the most expensive and acrimonious…
