JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Islamic State released a video that allegedly shows the execution of an Arab-Israeli teenager that the Islamist group accused of being a spy for Israel. The 13-minute video released online Tuesday reportedly shows Muhammad Musallam, 19, of eastern Jerusalem, dressed in an orange jumpsuit that hasContinue Reading
(JTA) — In his address to Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued that the proposed nuclear deal being negotiated with Iran will lead inexorably to a nuclear-armed Iran and war in the Middle East. “This deal has two major concessions: One, leaving Iran with a vast nuclear program, andContinue Reading
(JTA) — James Foley and Steven Sotloff, American journalists who were killed by ISIS, were honored with an award in memory of the murdered Jewish journalist Daniel Pearl. The ADL Daniel Pearl Award was presented to the parents of Foley and Sotloff last Friday during the organization’s National Executive CommitteeContinue Reading
(JTA) — The parents of Steven Sotloff, the Jewish journalist who was beheaded by a member of ISIS, will light a public menorah in Miami in his memory. Arthur and Shirley Sotloff will light the first candle of Hanukkah on Tuesday night at the Chabad center. “Steve was a proudContinue Reading
By Sean Savage, JNS.org Known primarily for their military prowess and high-tech ingenuity, Israelis are often overlooked when it comes to their global engagement. But IsraAID, an Israeli non-profit and non-governmental organization founded in 2001, has been on the frontline of every major humanitarian crisis of the 21st century —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 Janis Siegel, Jewish Sound Correspondent The Unites States needs to play hardball. When it engages in talks with Iran over its uranium enrichment program during the U.N.’s General Assembly meeting, which commences Thursday, it must keep air strikes on the table. So writes Michael Singh, the Washington Institute’s managingContinue Reading
By Ami Eden, JTA World News Service ANALYSIS NEW YORK (JTA) — President Obama did not mention Israel or the Palestinians during his address to the nation last week. But his pledge to lead a U.S.-coordinated effort to destroy ISIS could end up doing more to get Israeli-Palestinian negotiations backContinue Reading
By Ron Kampeas, JTA World News Service WASHINGTON (JTA) – Jewish institutions, which have faced attacks in recent years by lone wolves — extremists who draw their inspiration from the like-minded but act on their own — now must be wary of returnees from the Iraq-Syria arena who are trained and indoctrinatedContinue Reading
By Ron Kampeas, JTA World News Service WASHINGTON (JTA) — It was the first Persian Gulf state to establish ties with Israel, the first to welcome Israeli students, and the only one to allow direct dialing to Israel. Israeli athletes shine on its courts. Now Qatar is on the outsContinue 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
By Dmitriy Shapiro, JNS.org/Washington Jewish Week After months of rampaging through Iraq and stoking international fears that the Islamic State terrorist group could spread, a combination of Iraqi and Kurdish security forces, aided by targeted United States airstrikes, appear to have pushed back the self-proclaimed caliphate’s rampage in the region. Continue Reading
By Felice Friedson, The Media Line “As the international media is fixated on the struggle between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood, few reporters are focusing on Syria. But a spate of kidnappings of foreign journalists in Syria has made the country a mini-Iraq that few want to venture into.Continue Reading
(JTA) — The Islamist ISIS organization has released a video that apparently shows the beheading of the American journalist Steven Sotloff. The nearly three-minute video, titled “A Second Message to America,” was released Tuesday afternoon on Twitter and other online outlets. Sotloff family spokesman Barak Barfi said in a briefContinue Reading
By Uriel Heilman, JTA World News Service (JTA) – Between the war in Gaza and gains by Islamic militants in Iraq, Syria and Libya, there’s plenty of cause these days for pessimism about the Middle East. But amid all the fighting, there’s also some good news for Israel. If itContinue Reading
By Sean Savage, JNS.org With the launch of the Israeli army’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, much of the public’s attention has appropriately focused on Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group accused of being behind the June 12 abduction and murder of three Jewish teens and more recently the escalation ofContinue Reading
