Archive for Jewish News

| June 25, 2014
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WATCH: A message from Michael Douglas and son, Dylan

Leading actor & wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, were in Israel to celebrate son Dylan’s bar mitzva in Jerusalem.

By JTA

 

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones celebrated the bar mitzva of their son in Jerusalem.

Shalom from Mishpuheh Douglas, from the heart of Jerusalem,Israel!

The Hollywood power couple arrived in Israel on Thursday for the weekend bar mitzva of Dylan Michael Douglas, Israeli media reported.

The family stayed in the presidential suite of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.

They toured Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount tunnels, according to the Forward, which noted that Zeta-Jones has considered converting to Judaism.

 

View original Jerusalem Post publication at: http://www.jpost.com/Arts-and-Culture/Entertainment/WATCH-Michael-Douglas-takes-in-historic-sites-in-Jerusalem-360497 Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: ,
| June 23, 2014
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Passover Eve murder of Baruch Mizrahi told son “Whoever kills a Jew goes to heaven.”

 

Cleared for publication: Police Chief Superintendent Baruch Mizrahi was killed by Ziad Awad, who confided to his son that the reason for the attack was religious, saying “according to the Islam, whoever kills a Jew goes to heaven.”

By Yoav Zitun

 

The killer of Baruch Mizrahi, the senior Israeli police officer killed in a Passover eve terror attack near Hebron, was a Palestinian released in the prisoner exchange deal which saw Gilad Shalit freed in 2011 in return for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, it was cleared for publication Monday.

Awad's arrest last month

Awad’s arrest last month – IDF Helmet Camera Photo: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit

An indictment was filed Monday against Ziad Awad, a resident of the village of Idna near Hebron, for murder and attempted murder. Continue Reading »

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| June 21, 2014
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Israel’s nanosatellite will locate lost travelers despite no cellular reception

Israeli high-school students designed a ‘mini’ satellite that can precisely identify travelers’ location in global areas where there’s no cellphone reception.

 

Good things come in nano-packages: Israeli high-school students launched on Thursday night Israel’s first nanosatellite, which will aid stranded travelers worldwide to pinpoint their location, JNS reported.

Duchifat-1 nanosatellite

Duchifat-1 nanosatellite – Photo: Royroy903

The satellite, an 860-gram cube measuring 10 centimeters in each dimension, was designed and built by teens studying at the Herzliya Science Center, sponsored by the Israel Space Agency and the Herzliya Municipality.

Wikicommons

Duchifat (Hoopoe): Israel’s national bird – Photo: Wikicommons

Called Duchifat-1, after Israel’s petite national bird, the device was launched into space from the Yasny Airbase in Russia. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Jewish News | Tags: , , ,
| June 20, 2014
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Are there really 750,000 Israelis residing in the United States?

Precise data differ between the different governmental sources or Jewish organizations, not to mention, how does one define an Israeli?

By Haim Handwerker

 

NEW YORK – It’s not easy to find accurate data about the number of Israelis living in the United States. The Israeli government and the Jewish Agency are in5e simple fact that no one has precise numbers. Be that as it may, the numbers being bandied about these days range from 200,000 to 1 million.
A recent event organized by IAC in Los Angeles.

A recent event organized by IAC in Los Angeles. An estimated 15,000 Israelis attended. – Source: Haaretz

Drawing on estimates of Israeli government ministries and the Agency, Sagi Balasha, CEO of the Los Angeles-based Israeli American Council which represents Israelis and promotes their interests, believes that there are between 500,000 and 800,000 Israelis living in the United States.

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Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| June 19, 2014
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Holocaust memorial in Amsterdam delayed after receiving complaints

 

Local residents in Amsterdam petition city officials to reconsider plans of €5 million monument in honor of Holocaust victims, complaining it will take up too much space in popular park.

By AFP

 

Amsterdam officials on Tuesday ordered a rethink of a multi-million-euro Holocaust monument by US architect Daniel Libeskind after residents complained it would take over their park

Model of the memorial monument "Path of Light" in honor of Holocaust victims (Photo: AFP / Studio Daniel Libeskind/ Comite Auschwitz)

Model of the memorial monument “Path of Light” in honor of Holocaust victims – Photo: AFP / Studio Daniel Libeskind/ Comite Auschwitz

“The project currently on the table does not fit in with its envisaged surroundings,” invited resident Lina van Beest told the Amsterdam Centre council before the majority vote requesting further consultations. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: ,
| June 18, 2014
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NY Met reconsiders, cancels anti-Semitic broadcast Klinghoffer opera

Critics say the broadcast “The Death of Klinghoffer” glorifies murder & terrorists, centers on the death of an American Jew at the hands of Palestinian militants is an anti-Jewish and anti-Israel opera.

 

The New York Metropolitan Opera announced Tuesday that it had canceled plans to broadcast the opera “The Death of Klinghoffer,” following an outpouring of criticism that the opera glorifies murder and could fan global anti-Semitism.

While 69 year old disabled World War II Veteran Leon Klinghoffer sat in his wheelchair aboard the Achilles Lauro cruise ship on October 7, 1985, four Palestinian terrorists shot him in the head and threw him overboard as his wife watched in horror. Leon and Marilyn Klinghoffer had been celebrating their wedding anniversary by taking this cruise.

While 69 year old disabled World War II Veteran Leon Klinghoffer sat in his wheelchair aboard the Achilles Lauro cruise ship on October 7, 1985, four Palestinian terrorists shot him in the head and threw him overboard as his wife watched in horror.

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| June 17, 2014
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Desmond Tutu asks U.S. Christians to recognize Israel as apartheid state

At Presbyterian Church meeting in Detroit, veteran anti-Israel campaigner Desmond Tutu seeks to pass series of divestment resolutions.

 

Veteran anti-apartheid activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu has called on the Presbyterian Church (USA) to pass a series of resolutions condemning Israel as an apartheid state and proposing policies to boycott it.

Church General Assembly

Delegates at the 2012 Presbyterian Church General Assembly. – Photo: AP

The church’s biennial General Assembly, which is currently meeting in Detroit, has on its agenda eight resolutions dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Activists want the church and its institutions to use their investment dollars to punish Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians, such as by withdrawing investments from companies whose products are used by the Israeli government in the Palestinian territories.

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Category: Jewish News | Tags: , , , ,
| June 17, 2014
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Numerous anti-Semitic assaults plague Parisian Jews over weekend

Jewish girl cursed & shoved, Jewish man taunted & beaten, synagogue guards threatened and synagogue hit by garbage by its neighbors.

By

 

Two men pointed what looked like firearms at police stationed outside a Paris synagogue in part of a weekend string of anti-Semitic incidents in and near the French capital.

Ilan Halimi, France, Paris AP

Tens of thousands march in Paris against anti-Semitism after brutal killing of Ilan Halimi, Feb. 26, 2006. – Photo: AP

The incident involving the police officers occurred on June 14 outside the synagogue on Julien Lacroix Street in eastern Paris’ 20th arrondissement, according to a report posted on Sunday on the website of the National League for Vigilance Against anti-Semitism, or BVCA.

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Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
| June 16, 2014
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Lieberman reassess, party now opposes release of imprisoned terrorists

Yisrael Beiteinu head Avigdor Lieberman, says its cabinet members will be directed to reject any future proposal to free convicted & incarcerated Palestinian terrorists.

 

 

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday he will use party discipline to prevent cabinet ministers from Yisrael Beiteinu from approving any future deals to release Palestinian security prisoners. Yisrael Beiteinu cabinet members voted in support of the Gilad Shalit deal, as well as last year’s goodwill gesture to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for the release of prisoners in four stages. Three of the four stages were carried out.

Avigdor Lieberman.

Avigdor Lieberman. – Photo: Olivier Fitoussi

Speaking to Army Radio on Sunday morning, Lieberman said there will be no more terrorist releases, neither as a gesture or for any other reason.

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Category: Jewish News | Tags: , , ,
| June 15, 2014
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Discovery of Europe’s oldest mikvah revived Sicily’s ancient Jewish communities

The discovery of this mikvah (Jewish ritual bath) was as revealing as it was serendipitous for the Jews in Syracuse. Forgotten for too long, they are coming back home.

 

An attractive island in the Mediterranean, Sicily has been a hub of migration routes for millennia. Jews are thought to have been part of the patchwork at least as early as the 1st century, after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD.

The ancient mikveh baths uncovered in Syracuse (Amalia Daniele di Bagni)

The ancient mikveh baths uncovered in Syracuse, possibly the oldest in Europe. – Photo: Amalia Daniele di Bagni

At the end of the 15th century, Spain, which ruled in Sicily, expelled the Jews from its entire domain.

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Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , , ,
| June 14, 2014
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Guinness world record made in Tel Aviv for largest Shabbat dinner

Israel: 2,226 people were counted by Guinness, participated at Hangar 11, at the Tel Aviv Port, to set newest world record for largest Shabbat dinner ever.

By LAURA KELLY

 

Girls in miniskirts and high heels; rabbis in black hats and white Shirts; the revelry of the Gay Pride parade in the background – this is Friday night in Tel Aviv and a Shabbat for the record books.

shabbat dinner

Tel Aviv hosts shabbat dinner, June 13 Photo: LAURA KELLY

Exactly 2,226 people gathered at Hangar 11 at the Tel Aviv Port to participate in the record making largest Shabbat meal ever, organized by White City Shabbat, the Tel Aviv-based NGO that organizes public shabbat meals once a month at the Goren Synagogue on Modigliani Street, as well as other events geared toward the English-speaking and olim community that include holiday learning classes, chalah baking classes, and religious lectures. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Jewish News | Tags: , ,
| June 11, 2014
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Postponed ‘Jews in Israel’ exhibit to finally open at UNESCO

The Jewish people’s narrative finally to be displayed: A 3.5 millennia relationship to the Holy Land, and that’s the narrative that the Arab League didn’t want the world to know about.

By JTA

 

An exhibition on the Jewish presence in the land of Israel that had been canceled due to pressure from Arab states will open at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

The exhibit at UNESCO headquarters in Paris just needed to be installed – Jan.2014

“Book, People, Land — The 3,500-Year Relationship of the Jewish People With the Holy Land,” a joint exhibition of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the cultural arm of the United Nations, will open Wednesday.

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Category: Jewish News | Tags: , , ,
| June 10, 2014
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Israel’s 1st Gypsy Police Officer Made Aliyah From Siberia

After discovering that her mother had Jewish roots, Tania Leontieff who had spent her childhood in a Gypsy tribe on the frozen plains of Siberia, immigrated to Israel alone, converted & is to become a policewoman assigned to the Jerusalem district.

By Daniel Siryoti

At only 19, Tania Leontieff of Safed has an interesting life story. As the daughter of an itinerant Gypsy (Roma) family, most of her life was spent moving from place to place around eastern Europe. Four years ago, Leontieff discovered that she had Jewish roots and made the bold decision to move to Israel alone. She was recently drafted into the Israel Police and become Israel’s first Gypsy policewoman.

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Category: Israel News, Jewish News | Tags: , ,
| June 9, 2014
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Catholic Church Appears to Now Control King David’s Tomb – Jews Ejected By Police

The Mass prayers took place after all Jews were evicted from the holy site by Israeli police & Yassam special forces since it was not in the accepted “Room of the Last Supper” on the 2nd floor of the Compound.

By Shimon Cohen, Ari Yashar

 

In further proof of the fixed nature of Christian Mass services being imposed on the David’s Tomb Compound, services which were filmed on Sunday, it now turns out that Mass was held again on Monday morning – this time in the very room where King David’s Tomb is said to be located.

After Mass services at David's Tomb

After Mass services at David’s Tomb – Photo: Rabbanit Yocheved Grossman

Rabbanit Yocheved Grossman, a lead activist for King David’s Tomb, reported to Arutz Sheva that numerous priests and monks held Mass services in the room of King David’s grave marker. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Jewish News | Tags: , ,
| June 8, 2014
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Spain approves citizenship for Jewish descendants of those banished 500 years ago

 

Spanish cabinet approved bill that would allow dual citizenship to the descendants of Jews forced into exile 500 years ago.

Applicants must take a Spanish culture test & have their ties to Spain vetted by experts.

The Associated Press and Israel Hayom Staff

 

Spain’s cabinet on Friday approved a bill allowing descendants of Jews forced into exile centuries ago the right to dual citizenship, but said applicants will have to take a Spanish culture test in addition to having their ancient ties to the nation vetted by experts.

Caption: A synagogue in Toledo, Spain, which was built in 1180 – Photo: Reuters

Sephardi Jews who want to apply must have their heritage checked by the Spanish Federation of Jewish Communities or by rabbis where they live, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría said.

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Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: ,
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