In an unprecedented victory for pro-Palestinian activists, leaders of the largest Presbyterian denomination officially equated the Jewish state with apartheid South Africa and have voted to stop investing in Israel. With the decision, approved in a 431-62 vote at the 216th annual General Assembly of Presbyterian Church (USA), the church, boasting nearly 3 million members,…
Judaism has a long, complicated, fascinating history, and no chapter offers developments more unique than those written in the 350 years since the Jews first arrived in America. There are a number of reasons for this, though the most illuminating is perhaps that offered by the late Marshall Sklare, who noted that the United States…
Why would anyone in his right mind want to get into politics? Now, that’s a two-part question. If I’m crazy enough to write this piece, I’m probably crazy enough to get into politics. I’m a little too smart to be governor of a large state, but I think I can handle it. I sure hope…
The rabbinic concept of din rodef is — unfortunately — back in the news. It last made the front pages at the time of the Yitzhak Rabin assassination. Two weeks ago it resurfaced — this time, in connection with the declaration of Avigdor Nebenzahl, the learned and respected rabbi of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s…
WASHINGTON — Cooperation between Israel and the United States helped produce a series of intelligence failures in the lead up to the Iraq war, according to separate reports issued by members of the Senate and the Knesset. The Senate Intelligence Committee, in its report issued last week, blasted the Central Intelligence Agency for poor intelligence…
The power of song in the making of human history is often underestimated. Way back in 1382, a British preacher, John Ball, wrote a short song that inspired the peasant revolution of the time. It ran: “When Adam dug and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?” The melody was repeated in the German peasant…
Israel and Its American Supporters are Waging a Major Advocacy Campaign to Thwart Palestinian Efforts to Have the Security Council Act on the International Court of Justice’s Ruling Against the West Bank Security Fence. The immediate goal of the campaign is to secure a high number of abstentions at the General Assembly, where the Arab…
As Democrats deal with labor unrest and the possibility of inadequate facilities at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, observant Jewish delegates are contending with a different set of challenges: The first days of the convention fall within the traditional Jewish “Nine Days” of mourning for the lost Temples of ancient Jerusalem. Tisha B’Av, the…
Austrian President Dies Austrian President Thomas Klestil, the first head of the Alpine state to visit Israel, died Tuesday, two days before his scheduled retirement. Klestil became president in 1992 and restored the reputation of the Austrian presidency after his predecessor, Kurt Waldheim, was revealed to have had links to the Nazis. He also opposed…
YONKERS, N.Y. — Last summer, when Allan Turkheim and his wife drove up to the graves of his wife’s family at the cemetery of the Congregation People of Righteousness in this city just north of the Bronx, he almost didn’t believe his eyes. Where the remains of his relatives once lay he saw only the…
WASHINGTON — Former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, known for her fiery pro-Palestinian views, is trying to stage a comeback, and her effort is reigniting debates over the influence of the pro-Israel lobby in American politics. On July 29, voters in the Fourth Congressional District in Georgia will choose the Democratic candidate for the local House…
