Jewish News

Medvedev Seeks ‘Brutal’ Response to Terror Attacks

April 1 (Bloomberg) — President Dmitry Medvedev called for a “brutal” response to terrorism during a trip to Dagestan in Russia’s mostly Muslim North Caucasus region, where 14 people have died in bomb blasts in the last two days.“We’ve twisted off the heads of the most odious thugs, but clearly that’s not enough,” Medvedev said during a security meeting in ...

Palestinian PM to Haaretz: We will have a state next year

RAMALLAH – Next year, “the birth of a Palestinian state will be celebrated as a day of joy by the entire community of nations,” says Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in an exclusive interview to Haaretz.Relaying Passover greetings to the Jewish community, Fayyad hopes Israelis will also participate in the celebrations for the birth of a new state.“The time ...

Huge Weapons Cache Found in Sinai

Egyptian troops found a huge weapons cache in central Sinai early on Thursday morning, according to the Egyptian daily Al-Yaum As-Sabach. The cache contained an estimated 100 anti-aircraft missiles, 45 missile launchers, 40 bombs, and more.It is not yet clear where the weapons were from, or what their owners intended to do with them. However, troops suspect that the weapons were ...

Israel warns of new Gaza assault as US urges restraint

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel on Friday threatened widescale military action against the Gaza Strip after launching a string of air strikes in response to rocket fire from the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave.However, the United States urged restraint on both sides, saying there was no military solution to the conflict.Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom warned of a new offensive on the ...

No Segregation in Mea Shearim

End to exclusion of women on Mea Shearim sidewalks? The Toldot Aharon Hasidic dynasty has pledged not to send ushers to the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood’s streets to impose modesty rules during the holiday of Sukkot, and not to enforce gender segregation as it has done in previous years.In discussions held between senior haredi community members and representatives of the police and Jerusalem ...

Community Board Rejects Ohel Bus Stop

Community Board 13 in Cambria Heights, Queens voted down a proposal by Ohel Chabad-Lubavitch for a charter bus stop near Montefire Cemetery. The unanimous vote comes two weeks after residents rejected, also unanimously, the charter bus stop at a public hearing. The final decision rests with the City’s Department of Transportation.From the Queens Chronicle:Community Board 13 on Monday voted down ...

Israel Disappointed by Talks Between Argentina and Iran

Israel’s embassy in Buenos Aires expressed “disappointment” Friday over talks between Argentina and Iran about a deadly attack nearly two decades ago on a Jewish center in the Argentine capital, AFP reported.The foreign ministers of Argentina and Iran met in New York Thursday, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, to discuss the 1994 bombing which killed 85 people at a ...

Argentina, Iran Say to Talk Until 1990s Bombings of Jewish Targets Resolved

Argentina and Iran will keep talking until they resolve diplomatically sensitive issues stemming from two 1990s attacks on Jewish targets in Buenos Aires that were allegedly sponsored by Tehran, both countries said on Thursday.Dialogue with Tehran is risky for Argentina, even if the focus is on Tehran’s possible culpability in a pair of bombings. The opening of a diplomatic channel ...

Jews from Arab Lands Skeptical over Refugee Status

A few days ago, the UN heard Israel make a case that had never been before the world body. Just as several hundred thousand Palestinians are recognized as refugees who were displaced in the course of Israel’s creation, Israeli officials say, so should the UN recognize the approximately 850,000 Jews from Arab countries who came to Israel during and after ...

Holy Books Buried after Surviving Shoah

A unique Jewish burial was held Sunday for pages of Torah scrolls and the remains of other holy books that survived the Holocaust almost 70 years ago.The ancient scrolls were kept in the Holy Ark of a synagogue in east Romania, which was bombed and completely destroyed by the Nazis.In their last hours, before the Nazis led them to their ...

The Triumph of Chabad

It was another year’s chagim spent abroad, away from Israel where Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kipur (and Simcha Torah and Shemini Atzeret and Succot…) are a matter of course; where in a spiritual analog of the Soviet agents who once visited America and pointing in any direction were astonished to be taken to a supermarket stuffed with food, so in ...

New Proposed German Law Okays Ritual Circumcision

A new proposed German law is set to approve ritual circumcision (known as brit mila or bris milain Judaism) hopefully ending the debate – and the threat – to the ancient custom practiced by Jews and Muslims.German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger presented the proposal to the state governments and associations throughout the country on Tuesday, the eve of Yom Kippur.If approved, the move ...