Ayman Odeh, leader of the Arab political parties in the Israeli Knesset, backed out of a meeting with Jewish communal executives on December 10 after learning that the meeting would be held in offices rented from the Jewish Agency for Israel. The cancellation, which soured a historic visit by Odeh that included a number of…
As part of a major new initiative it is launching, the Jewish Agency plans to provide conversion services abroad not only to Orthodox communities – but also to Conservative and Reform communities. Speaking with Haaretz, Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky said: “We have no intention of discriminating between one stream of Judaism and another.” Last…
The Jewish Agency for Israel plans to establish special overseas courts for people wishing to convert to Judaism. The group’s board of governors overwhelmingly voted in favor of the plan at a meeting in Tel Aviv Wednesday. Under the plan, the agency will send rabbis to work with the courts and help local rabbis ensure…
Fed up with the American Jewish community and the big-mouth nobodies who think they own it? Good news: There’s going to be an election. And you can vote. No, really. An actual, honest-to-goodness election. From January 15 until April 30 you can go online, pay $10 to register and cast a vote for a delegation…
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has accused the Jewish Agency for Israel of leaking a plan to evacuate Jews from Eastern Ukraine, in the wake of ongoing political crisis and violence. The plans were reported in the Ukrainian media, Israel’s Channel 2 reported Wednesday evening. The plans are no longer viable, according to the report. Israel’s ambassador…
New outpost goes up at Eli, Judea-West Bank, February 2008, courtesy of the World Zionist Organization / Getty Images The settler movement and its right-wing Knesset allies are finding they’ve got their hands full swatting back demands from the center and left — an unusual alliance of Labor, Yesh Atid and Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah —…
The Jewish Agency said it would offer immediate emergency assistance to Ukraine’s Jewish community and will help secure the country’s Jewish institutions. Saturday evening’s announcement by Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky came hours after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych fled Kiev and the Ukrainian parliament announced new presidential elections for late May. Violent protests led to…
Those who read my Friday blog post about the Israel-Diaspora deliberations going on in Jerusalem this week might have noticed that I mentioned a paradox in the way the discussions are going, but I never detailed the substance of the paradox. The sun was setting over the Mediterranean before I had a chance to finish…
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