(JTA) — President Obama in Jewish New Year greetings spoke of a challenging past year and new hope.“As Jews across America, Israel, and the world gather together for the High Holidays, Michelle and I extend our warmest wishes to you and your families for a sweet and happy new year,”Continue Reading
By Uriel Heilman JTA World News Service NEW YORK (JTA) — President Obama devoted the bulk of his U.N. speech to the fight against violent Islamic extremism and hardly mentioned Iran’s nuclear program. In his address last year to the General Assembly, Obama spent a great deal of time talkingContinue Reading
By Ron Kampeas, JTA World News Service ARLINGTON, Va. (JTA) — The scene at Arlington National Cemetery last Friday was not quite routine, but nor was it unusual: A clergyman said a prayer, an army NCO handed Bernard Gavrin’s closest living relative a folded U.S. flag, and a volunteer —Continue Reading
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Citing possible threats to the homeland among other considerations, President Obama pledged to “destroy” ISIS using airstrikes and training the Iraqi army to combat the terror organization.“Our objective is clear,” Obama said, speaking Wednesday evening from the White House on the eve of the 13th anniversary ofContinue Reading
NEW YORK (JTA) – For years, Melissa Duchan had found the dress code for girls at her Orthodox school in Brooklyn, the Yeshivah of Flatbush, onerous. But it wasn’t until recently that Duchan, 16, felt that scrutiny of female students had crossed the line from irritating to what she calledContinue Reading
By Alina Dain Sharon, JNS.org When Harvard Hillel refused to host a planned 2012 event titled “Jewish Voices Against the Israeli Occupation,” organized by the Harvard College Progressive Jewish Alliance and the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee, frustrated students wrote an open letter to the Hillel community criticizing the decision.Continue Reading
NEW YORK (JTA) — A new partnership has launched to enable the purchase of kosher “fair trade” coffee, tea and chocolate while supporting Jewish communal efforts on human trafficking and worker justice.The Jewish Fair Trade Partnership allows individuals and Jewish institutions like synagogues to purchase fair trade products atContinue Reading
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Joan Rivers, who broke barriers for women in comedy and on television, has died. Rivers, 81, died Thursday a week after being rushed to Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Hospital after her heart stopped during throat surgery at a clinic. Doctors at the hospital put her in an inducedContinue Reading
By Alina Dain Sharon, JNS.org This summer’s 50-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which has come to a close if a cease-fire reached last week holds, has spurred a sharp rise in both anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incidents around the world. At the same time, the boundary between anti-ZionismContinue Reading
By Anthony Weiss, JTA World News Service (JTA) — On the evening of Aug. 12, after two consecutive nights of clashes between police and protesters in Ferguson, Mo., Mikal Smith rose to address a community meeting in the neighboring city of Florissant. In front of Gov. Jay Nixon, Obama administrationContinue Reading
(JNS.org) A Temple University student was punched in the face and called anti-Semitic slurs by members of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) on the Philadelphia campus Wednesday. Daniel Vessal, a campus fellow of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) and a member of the Jewish fraternity AEPi,Continue Reading
(Cleveland Jewish News/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Columbus, Ohio, Jewish community is mourning the loss of one of its lone soldiers as the Israel Defense Forces continues to investigate the death of Cpl. David Menachem Gordon, whose body was found Aug. 19 in central Israel with gunshot wounds. Gordon, 21, had beenContinue Reading
(JTA) — The United States is tightening controls on military sales to Israel in the wake of the conflict in Gaza.On July 20, days after Israel began its ground invasion in Gaza, Israel requested and received a shipment of munitions from the Pentagon without prior approval from the White House,Continue Reading
By Ron Kampeas, JTA World News Service WASHINGTON (JTA) – If the results of a recent focus group and polls are any indication, the gap is growing between Congress and young Americans when it comes to support for Israel. Polls conducted in late July by Gallup and the Pew Research Center found thatContinue Reading
JTA World News Service WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Senate unanimously approved new funds to Israel for its Iron Dome anti-missile system after Republicans and Democrats settled differences over how to pass the bill. The emergency supplemental bill passed Friday adds $225 million to $350 million for the system, which IsraelContinue Reading
JTA World News Service WASHINGTON (JTA) — A number of Senate Republicans blocked Israel’s request of an additional $225 million for the Iron Dome anti-missile system during the current Gaza Strip conflict. Republicans had initially objected to the inclusion of the request by Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the majority leader,Continue Reading
By Hillel Kuttler, JTA World News Service BALTIMORE (JTA) — Sean Carmeli, a sergeant in the Israeli army, was stationed in Israel’s South awaiting possible orders to enter Gaza. He was exchanging Facebook messages with his friend Ian Benisti, a U.S. Marine reservist who was visiting Israel from California. TheContinue Reading
NEW YORK (JTA) –United, U.S. Airways and Delta Airlines canceled their flights to Tel Aviv after a rocket fired from Gaza struck near the Israeli airport. Delta and United both said they were suspending all flights to Israel until further notice. A spokesman for American Airlines, the parent company of U.S. Airways, told JTA that theContinue Reading
By Uriel Heilman, JTA World News Service (JTA) — Rebecca Scoggin lived in a lot of places growing up: Juneau, Nome, Fairbanks, Homer, Anchorage. But except for the two years she lived in Seattle after high school, she never lived outside Alaska. At least she hadn’t until a few monthsContinue Reading
(JTA) — Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, the father of the Jewish Renewal movement, has died at age 89. A maverick rabbi who started out in the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, Schachter-Shalomi transitioned over time toward a New Age, neo-Hasidic approach, gaining a substantial following on his own but also influencing other Jewish denominations.Continue Reading
