Archive for The Diaspora

| April 12, 2014
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So, What’s the latest Palestinian joke?…Check it out!

Jewish & Palestinian humor are similar according to a psychology professor, because both cultures are defined by hardship & struggle, and they turn to humor as a psychological salve.

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Two Americans, a journalist and a psychology professor, set out in search of humor in the West Bank – and they found it, according to the Washington Post.

Adi Khalefa

Comedian Adi Khalefa. – Photo: Screenshot

“Everyone thought we were crazy when we said we were going to the Palestinian territories in search of comedy,” wrote Joel Warner and Peter McGraw. “You mean the war-torn region that’s been under Israeli occupation for decades? Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags:
| April 12, 2014
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Jewish American Jailed in Cuba Ends 8-Day Hunger Strike

Alan Gross, a U.S. contractor convicted and imprisoned in Cuba, ends his hunger strike on the 8th day after a phone conversation with his mother.

By Elad Benari, Canada

 

U.S. contractor Alan Gross ended an eight-day hunger strike Friday to press for his release from prison in Cuba, AFP reported.

U.S. aid contractor Alan Gross and his wife Judy – Reuters

Gross moved to end his protest after a telephone conversation with his mother, who will turn 92 years old on Tuesday, according to defense attorney Scott Gilbert.

“My protest fast is suspended as of today,” Gross said in a statement dictated from his Havana prison to Gilbert, according to AFP. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
| April 11, 2014
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Switzerland registers ‘State of Palestine’ as Signatory of Geneva Conventions

In Abbas’ latest move to gain legitimacy, Switzerland agreed to sign ‘Palestine’s’ request on to the Geneva Conventions.

By AFP and Arutz Sheva Staff

 

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has signed up formally to the Geneva Conventions, which set down the rules of warfare and humanitarian operations in conflict zones, the treaties’ guardian Switzerland confirmed Friday.

Mahmoud Abbas – Reuters

Swiss foreign ministry spokesman Pierre-Alain Eltschinger told AFP that the PA had declared itself party to the conventions on April 2. The PA was registered formally by Switzerland on Thursday, he added.

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas unilaterally applied to join 15 international conventions and treaties late last week. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: ,
| April 8, 2014
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Russia’s Parliament approves law making Holocaust denial illegal

 

Under new law, violators found guilty of Holocaust denial could be fined up to $15,000 or imprisoned up to 5 years.

By JTA
 

 

Russian lawmakers approved a bill that would make Holocaust denial illegal.

Holocaust candles

Holocaust candles – Photo: REUTERS

The lower house of the Russian Parliament, or Duma, passed the measure Friday on its first reading, the Voice of Russia reported Monday, making it illegal to deny the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal and punishing the “rehabilitation of Nazism.”

Those found guilty of the crime could be fined up to $8,300 or imprisoned up to three years. Public officials or media personalities would be fined nearly double or face up to five years in prison. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
| April 6, 2014
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Lost Mikvehs discovered in the Netherlands when forgotten after the Holocaust

Mikvehs were covered up & only exposed recently when members of the Jewish community in Groningen chanced upon blueprints of the building.

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A Dutch Jewish organization rediscovered two ritual baths that had been forgotten after the Holocaust.

Groningen Folkingedwarsstraat synagogue

Groningen Folkingedwarsstraat synagogue – Photo: Google Street View

In reporting about the find Friday, the Crescas Jewish education institute wrote on its website that large parts of the 19th-century ritual baths, or mikvehs, were unearthed last week at a Jewish community building in the northern city of Groningen.

“The mikvehs are an exciting find,” Crescas wrote. “They are remarkably well-preserved. The marble of one of the baths was partially damaged during renovations.”

Continue Reading »
Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| April 6, 2014
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Bulgaria seeks extradition from Lebanon of 2 Hezbollah bus bomb terrorists

Bulgaria’s Chief prosecutor: 3rd Bombing suspect in the terror attack on an Israeli tour bus to Burgas has been officially identified, but not publicly revealed.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
 

 

Bulgaria’s chief prosecutor  Sotir Tsatsarov said on Friday that the authorities transferred the investigation of the terror attack on an Israeli bus to Burgas; the  Black Sea resort which was the location of the 2012 attack resulting in the deaths of five Israelis and their Bulgarian bus driver.

Israeli ZAKA emergency rescue team examining the remains of the bus at the scene of the Hezbollah terrorist attack in Burgas, Bulgaria. – Photo: JTA

Israeli ZAKA emergency rescue team examining the remains of the bus at the scene of the Hezbollah terrorist attack in Burgas, Bulgaria. – Photo: JTA

Tsatsarov said again on Friday the identity of the third suspect—the alleged bomber who died during the terrorist attack on Israelis tourists— has been identified, but not revealed.  Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| April 2, 2014
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IsraAID dispatches delegation to Bulgaria to help Syrian refugees

 

First Jordan, now Israeli humanitarian group IsraAID went to Bulgaria to render assistance for additional influx of Syrian refugees.

By Yossi Aloni

 

Israel continues to reach out to aid refugees of the ongoing Syrian civil war, this time by sending assistance to refugee camps in Bulgaria.

Israeli Aid Follows Syrian Refugees to Europe

Israeli Aid Follows Syrian Refugees to Europe

The Israeli NGO umbrella group IsraAID last week dispatched a delegation to Bulgaria to help deal with the influx of Syrian refugees arriving in the eastern European nation via neighboring Turkey.

There are currently about 11,000 Syrian refugees living in three camps in Bulgaria, including two camps in the capital of Sofia. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , , ,
| March 31, 2014
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New Jersey Gov. apologizes to Adelson for calling West Bank, ‘occupied territories’

 

Jewish Republicans reportedly gasped at New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s use of the propagandized term in a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition.

By JTA

 

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie apologized to casino magnate Sheldon Adelson for referring to the “occupied territories” in a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks to the Economic Club of Chicago, Feb. 11, 2014. - Photo: AP

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie – Photo: AP

Christie met with Adelson, a major GOP donor, privately on Saturday afternoon in Adelson’s Las Vegas office in the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, which hosted the RJC meeting, Politico reported, citing an unnamed source.

During his speech on Saturday, Christie spoke of his family’s trip to Israel in 2012.

Continue Reading »
Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
| March 31, 2014
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French Jewish Immigration at All Time High

Numbers show 854 French immigrants arrived in Israel during January & February, more than 3 times the number arriving in the same 2-month period last year.

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A record number of Jewish immigrants from France poured into Israel in the first few months of the year, according to figures released by the Jewish Agency Sunday.

French Jewish youth

About 1,000 French high school students are in Israel on a program known as Bac Bleu Blanc (“Blue White Seniors”). Some are expected to join a growing number of French Jews making aliyah. – Photo: JAFI

The figures show that 854 French immigrants arrived in Israel in January and February – more than three times the number arriving in the same two-month period the previous year.

Continue Reading »
Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
| March 26, 2014
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Jew to run for Ukrainian Presidency – What anti-Semitism?

Leader of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress, Vadim Rabinovich, says he will run for president in Ukraine’s May 25 election.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

 

Vadim Rabinovich, president of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress and founder of the European Jewish Parliament, announced on Tuesday that he will run for the presidency of Ukraine, reports the Jewish Daily Forward.

Huge Kiev rally – Reuters

According to the report, Rabinovich told the Russian Interfax news agency that he was running to “destroy the myth about anti-Semitism in Ukraine.”

In recent months, Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have accused groups that overthrew Ukraine’s former president, Viktor Yanukovych, of being fascists and anti-Semites. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| March 25, 2014
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UK Minister for Universities & Science: No academic boycotts of Israel in Britain

During his visit to Jerusalem, David Willetts, the British Minister for Universities and Science says fewer Israelis have been coming to study in UK because of misperception of hostility.

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Fewer Israeli students have been coming to England to study because of mistaken perceptions that Britain is “an unfriendly or hostile place” to Israel or Israelis. That mistaken perception needs addressing, said David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, in a visit to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Monday.

UK Universities Minister David Willetts (Wikimedia Commons)

UK Universities Minister David Willetts: Perception of hostility to Israelis is mistaken. – Photo by Wikimedia Commons

There has been no boycott of Israeli academia in the U.K., Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| March 24, 2014
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WATCH LIVE as UN Human Rights Council condemns Israel on 5 resolutions

One resolution calls for boycott of Jewish West Bank communities and Jews in east Jerusalem.

Due to Foreign Ministry strike, Israel is not represented.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF

 

The United Nations Human Rights Council debated five anti-Israel resolutions — including one that calls for a business boycott of West Bank settlements and Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem — during its Monday meeting in Geneva.

 

OVERVIEW OF the Human Rights Council at the UNHRC – UN Photo/Pierre Albouy

During the UNHRC’s entire 25th session this month, it is voting on only one resolution on Syria even though over 120,000 people have been killed in its ongoing civil war. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , , , , ,
| March 24, 2014
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Jimmy Carter: Obama is the First President who Doesn’t Call Me

“I think the problem was that the Carter Center has taken a very strong and public position of equal treatment between the Palestinians & the Israelis,” said Carter. “And I think this was a sensitive area in which the president didn’t want to be involved.”

By Sandy Fitzgerald

 

President Barack Obama is the first president who has not solicited advice from former President Jimmy Carter since he left office, Carter told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

Former President Jimmy Carter - Photo by AP

Former President Jimmy Carter – Photo by AP

“President Clinton did and President George W. Bush and H.W. Bush and even Ronald Reagan used to call on us to go into sensitive areas,” Carter told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell Sunday.

Continue Reading »
Category: The Diaspora | Tags:
| March 24, 2014
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A small Jewish community splits over conversion in rural Uganda

Even with support from the Diaspora, the community remains poor. All the members are farmers, including Sizomu, who despite his rabbinical degree, grows plantains to support himself.

 

NABUGOYE, Uganda (JTA) — On Fridays at sundown, the Jewish residents of this village set amid the lush hills of eastern Uganda gather in the synagogue to greet Shabbat.
Enosh Keki Maniah, the head of the breakaway Orthodox faction of Uganda's Abayudaya Jewish community, hopes to move to Israel. (Ben Sales)Enosh Keki Maniah, the head of the breakaway Orthodox faction of Uganda’s Abayudaya Jewish community, says, “We didn’t  have a grudge with anyone.” (Ben Sales)

 

The room is bare, the light is dim and the Conservative prayer books are worn.

Continue Reading »
Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
| March 20, 2014
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15 Israelis to run 60 kilometers and conquer Mount Everest

So who are these 15 Israeli runners, & how are they preparing for a run up to the summit of the highest peak in the world?

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For thousands of participants, this year’s Tel Aviv Marathon, on February 28, was a lofty target at which they had been aiming themselves for months. But for the group of runners that gathered the night before outside the offices of Icon Fashion Accessories in Bnei Brak, it was just the first step in a lengthy training regimen leading up to one of the sport’s biggest challenges: the Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon, held every year on May 29 to mark the historic trek of Tenzing Norgay and Edmond Hillary to the summit of Mount Everest in 1953. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
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