Four of the top professionals at the Jewish Agency for Israel recently have announced their plans to leave the agency amid talk of growing tensions between the top professionals and the political leadership of the massive, quasi-governmental Israeli social-service agency. Leading the list of departures is the agency’s top professional, Director General Giora Romm, who…
On his hit HBO television series, “Da Ali G Show,” British Jewish comedian Sacha Baron Cohen is after laughs, but in the process he is creating a new form of sociological experiment. Each week, under the guise of three different fictitious personas, Baron Cohen is shown interviewing unsuspecting Americans to elicit outrageous and politically incorrect…
Online dating service seeks IPO investors, long walks in the park. After it was announced last week that the corporate parent of JDate.com, the leading Jewish Internet dating site, was making moves toward an initial public offering of its stock, JDaters stopped to wonder: Just what does this mean for me? “As though I didn’t…
WASHINGTON — Despite reported Israeli objections, the United States appears determined to push ahead with a planned sale of advanced air-to-air missiles to Jordan, Israeli sources and pro-Israel activists say. Instead of trying to block the sale, Israeli officials now plan to seek assurances from the Bush administration that the missile, known as Amraam, will…
A front-page headline in last week’s Forward misstated the substance of a Middle East policy resolution adopted by the Union for Reform Judaism and communicated last week in a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell. The Reform movement strongly endorsed Prime Minister Sharon’s unilateral disengagement plan, while separately urging the administration to increase its…
A delegation of rabbis flew to Athens this week in an effort to bring the positive Olympic spirit to the contentious arena of religious relations. But it appears that this unprecedented endeavor will require some Olympic-class heavy lifting. The rabbis, all interfaith experts, were invited by leaders of the Greek Orthodox Church to meet with…
N.Z. Slams Antisemitism New Zealand’s Parliament unanimously passed a statement Tuesday condemning all forms of antisemitism and racism. The move came days after 95 headstones were toppled in the Jewish cemetery near the capital, Wellington. The cemetery’s chapel, used for prayers before burials, was gutted by fire, leaving only swastika-etched walls standing. Meanwhile, in the…
TEL AVIV — Benjamin Netanyahu, the spoiler of Ariel Sharon’s Cabinet, managed this week to throw Israeli politics into turmoil by pulling one of his most unexpected stunts ever: bringing in a 2005 state budget framework on time. Netanyahu’s draft budget, a Thatcherite mix of privatization and spending cuts, is winning plaudits from economists and…
With federal and city officials racing to respond to warnings of new terrorist strikes against the United States, the media appears to have set off a frightening false alarm about an alleged threat to a small Manhattan synagogue. Time magazine reported Monday that the historic Eldridge Street Synagogue on Manhattan’s Lower East Side was “singled…
‘Truth in Labeling?’ I: A glossy new White House publication titled “President George W. Bush: A Friend to the American Jewish Community” is raising the ire of Democrats, who contend that it is a thinly disguised — and dishonest — campaign document put out with public money. The 26-page booklet, issued by the White House’s…
Bush Relying on Pakistan, Saudi Arabia
