Shortly after the invasion of Iraq, the U.S. government released a deck of cards featuring the faces of its most-wanted enemies. Next came the anti-war movement’s edition, topped by President Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. These days, it increasingly feels as if Jewish hawks would like to release a deck of their own,…
Jewish grandmothers, aging hippies and Jerry Seinfeld all filed into the auditorium of Manhattan’s Asia Society last week for a $500-a-head benefit for CLAL, The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. Then the lights dimmed and a man with large hair took the stage, wearing tight black pants and a shimmering golden shirt unbuttoned…
WASHINGTON — Emboldened by the overwhelming congressional vote this month to impose sanctions on Syria, Middle East hawks on Capitol Hill are pushing similar legislation targeted at Saudi Arabia. At the same time, most observers say the Bush administration appears unlikely to act against either country. Senator Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, recently introduced a…
Not too long ago there was a story circulating around the Asian American Hotel Owners Association that a petition would be launched to change its president’s name. There are approximately 8,400 AAHOA members, all of them Indian or Indian American. And many of them said, albeit in jest, that their president should have a more…
One of the country’s largest anti-war coalitions has voted against endorsing an informal diplomatic effort to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — a move that perplexed some Jewish groups in the coalition. The November 16 vote by the Palestine Working Group of United for Peace and Justice reflected the belief among some members of the coalition…
Counter Coulter: The search by Democratic presidential contenders for Jewish familial links, reported at length by the Forward last year, has been given a new spin by the Republican right’s favorite blond spinmeistress, Ann Coulter. The way she sees it, it’s all part of an elaborate plot by the Democrats — or, as she delicately…
WASHINGTON — Five U.S. senators introduced a resolution Tuesday applauding private Israeli-Palestinian peace initiatives and calling on President Bush and Israeli and Palestinian leaders to embrace them. A similar resolution is expected to be introduced in the House of Representatives early next month, following the symbolic signing ceremony in Geneva of a “virtual” peace accord…
WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans say they plan to push forward with efforts to scrutinize the overseas activities of the Ford Foundation, despite the foundation’s promise last week that it would no longer fund Palestinian groups advocating violence or denying Israel’s legitimacy. “It is still appropriate for there to be ongoing oversight” of the foundation by…
TORONTO — Prominent Israeli personalities such as novelist A.B. Yehoshua and strategic analyst Barry Rubin were among the speakers earlier this month at the Toronto Jewish Book Fair. The biggest draw, however, was a Muslim Canadian author calling for an Islamic Reformation that would purge the Muslim world of antisemitism. Irshad Manji, a Toronto broadcaster…
Hillel Leader Sued Los Angeles freelance journalist Rachel Neuwirth filed a complaint against UCLA Hillel Director Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller and UCLA Hillel, Los Angeles Hillel Council and Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, in the Los Angeles Superior Court on November 20, seeking undisclosed damages for battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction…
In Philip Roth’s 1993 novel “Operation Shylock,” an Israeli book dealer by the name of David Supposnik attempts to solicit support from “Philip Roth” — the character in the novel with the same name as the author — for the publication of the travel diaries of Leon Klinghoffer, the wheelchair-bound passenger murdered by Palestinian terrorists…
