The Palestinians will be going to the United Nations this September to seek recognition of statehood. Despite the desire of Israel and the United States to avert what many are describing as a disastrous move, a U.N. vote now looks inevitable. As Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the Palestinian Authority, recently put it, “We have exhausted…
The diplomatic clash between Israel and Turkey may be escalating, but many within Turkey’s 23,000-strong Jewish population insist that it is nothing more than politics for them, with no practical effect on their lives or security. “In daily life, we don’t fear anything from the Turks,” said Nisya Isman Allovi, manager of the Jewish Museum…
Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson has long been seen as a powerful force in Israel’s body politic. He’s the owner of Israel’s largest daily newspaper and so close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he sat in the front row of the Knesset’s VIP section for Netanyahu’s 2009 electoral victory appearance. Adelson is also…
Former New York Mayor Ed Koch voiced deep satisfaction with the victory of Republican Bob Turner over Democrat David Weprin in the special election for New York’s Ninth Congressional District September 13—and with his own impact on that race. But in an interview with the Forward, the longtime Democrat at times seemed fact challenged when…
Jews in Malmo, Sweden, lately a hotbed of anti-Semitic attacks, are responding positively to the Swedish government’s decision to devote $622,000 to security for Sweden’s Jewish community. Rabbi Shneur Kesselman, who said he had been taunted by Muslim youth on five separate occasions the very day that he was interviewed by phone, told the Forward…
On a sunny Saturday in September, Lillian Brown Vogel rolled her wheelchair to the brink of a small gravesite just outside the city of Gunnison, in central Utah. She squinted at the two headstones before her, slabs of gray and brown rock etched with Hebrew letters. Each one was surrounded by a small pen of…
Whoopi Goldberg Lauds 9/11 Canine Heroes at American Humane Association Gala I’m not sure who got more attention at the American Humane Association’s 10th Anniversary Tribute to Hero Dogs of 9/11, held at the National Arts Club on September 8: Whoopi Goldberg of ABC’s “The View” or AHA Spokesdog Rin Tin Tin, a 12th-generation descendant…
Thousands of Turkish protesters gathered outside the soccer stadium in Istanbul where Maccabi Tel Aviv was playing against Turkish team Beşiktaş, waving Hezbollah flags and chanting anti-Israel slogans. The protesters yelled “no passage for Zionists” and “Israel is a murderer, get out of Palestine.” Local police were deployed in large numbers around the area, and…
The Jewish Agency for Israel and Hillel are erecting white tents on 20 campuses throughout North America to serve as forums to discuss Israel and the Middle East. The “Talk Israel” program will take place Sept. 20 and 21 at universities including the University of California-Berkeley, Columbia, Cornell, George Washington and the University of Maryland….
An Israeli rights group has warned Columbia University of legal repercussions following an invitation to some students for a dinner with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Members of Columbia’s International Relations Council and Association were invited via e-mail to a private meal Sept. 21 with Ahmadinejad, the school’s Spectator newspaper reported. Some 15 students will attend…
This week, host Josh Nathan-Kazis is joined by Forward staff writer Nathan Guttman and Forward Fellow Naomi Zeveloff to discuss Israel’s security and its relationships with the Arab world after protestors knocked down a wall outside of Israel’s embassy in Cairo. Then, Democrat David Weprin was defeated by Republican Bob Turner in a special election…
