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The moral courage of Isi Leibler

Isi Leibler. Photo: Courtesy.
The death in Jerusalem of Isi Leibler at the age of 86 has robbed the Jewish world of one of its towering figures at a time when it is particularly ill-equipped for such a loss. Leibler, who was head of the Australian Jewish community before he immigrated to Israel, became a multi-millionaire global Jewish leader who was influential for decades on the …

OU to offer ‘Back to Shul’ grants to spur attendance, communal re-engagement

The newly renovated synagogue for use by the Tomer division of the Givati Brigade at a training base in the Negev Desert, Feb. 17, 2021. Credit: IDF.
One of the most profound ways the coronavirus pandemic impacted the Jewish community in the past year was the initial closure of and subsequent limitations on synagogues. Now, as more congregants have been vaccinated and individual state regulations on indoor public gatherings have eased, the Orthodox Union is launching a new $100,000 challenge grant designed to support congregations that create …

A Cloak and Dagger Israeli Spy Thriller

A Cloak and Dagger Israeli Spy Thriller
Damascus Cover, a 2016 film adapted from the 1977 novel of the same name by Howard Kaplan, is currently streaming on paid Amazon Prime. Kaplan, a native of Los Angeles, has lived in Israel and traveled extensively through Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. The film by Daniel Zelik Berk checks all the boxes for a worthy night at the movies: gifted actors, glamorous …
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Jewish community marks loss of Prince Philip, beginning with prayer

Prince Philip and his sister, Princess Sophie, lay a wreath at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem on Oct. 31, 1994. Credit: Beni Birk/The National Library of Israel.
As the United Kingdom honored Prince Philip, who died on April 9 at the age 99, with a gun salute, flags at half-staff and the many who paid tribute outside of Buckingham Palace, Sabbath prayers for the longest-serving royal consort were a bit different in synagogues across England. For decades, the blessings recited for the royal family—“He who gives salvation …

Palestinian elections could jeopardize Fatah’s rule in the West Bank

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas seen during a tour in the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 15, 2020. Photo by Flash90
Should Palestinian elections go ahead in the territories, Fatah’s rule in the West Bank could be significantly jeopardized, an Israeli expert on the Palestinian arena has warned. Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, told JNS that the threat is clear not only to …

Canada’s third-largest party endorses boycott of Israel

Jagmeet Singh (center), leader of Canada's New Democratic Party. Source: NDP/Twitter.
Members of Canada’s progressive New Democratic Party (NDP) have voted overwhelmingly to endorse a boycott against Israel during its recent party convention. At its virtual party convention on April 10, the NDP—the third-largest party in Canada—adopted the resolution “Justice and Peace in Israel-Palestine” that calls for a boycott of products emanating from Israeli settlements, as well as an arms embargo …

Blinken: US commitment to Israel ‘ironclad,’ welcomes more normalization agreements

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcoming Israel's 73rd Independence Day celebration. Source: Screenshot.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that America’s commitment to Israel is “ironclad,” and that he—and the Biden administration—supports more normalization agreements. Blinken appeared as part of a virtual event hosted by Israel’s embassy in Washington for Israeli Independence Day, which also featured U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and was viewed …

On its 73rd Independence Day, Israel’s population hits 9.3 million

Crowds back out in Tel Aviv after a year of grappling with coronavirus lockdowns, April 4, 2021. Photo by Miriam Alster/Flash90.
Ahead of Israel’s 72nd Independence Day, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) has published the nation’s latest population figures. The Jewish state is home to 9,327,000 people, among them 6.894 million Jews (73.9 percent of the population), 1.966 million Arabs (21.1 percent) and 467,000 citizens of other ethnicities (5 percent). Demographic growth projections indicate that in 2030, Israel’s population will …

Notorious Ponzi-schemer Bernie Madoff dies at age 82

Bernie Madoff. Source: Screenshot.
Jewish Ponzi schemer and disgraced financier Bernie Madoff died on Wednesday at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, N.C., at the age of 82, his lawyer confirmed. His death was a result of natural causes and not believed to be related to the coronavirus, said a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Born on April 29, 1938, in a lower-middle-class Jewish neighborhood …

Lawfare Project urges Zoom, UC Merced to cancel event featuring Palestinian terrorist

Leila Khaled. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
The Lawfare Project is urging Zoom and the University of California, Merced, to cancel an upcoming event featuring Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled. The event, titled “Free Speech and Palestine,” is scheduled to take place on April 23 at noon Pacific Time, and is being co-sponsored by San Francisco State University’s Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies (AMED), as well as the …

Khamenei dismisses proposals made during nuclear talks in Vienna

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends the Great Conference of Basij members at Azadi stadium in Tehran, Iran, on Oct. 4, 2018. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed proposals made so far during indirect talks with the United States in Vienna on Wednesday. “The offers they provide are usually arrogant and humiliating, not worth looking at,” said Khamenei in an address for the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, reported the AP. “The talks shouldn’t become talks of attrition. They shouldn’t be in a way that …

MSNBC host tweets libel about IDF sniper targeting Palestinian boy

Mehdi Hasan, host of MSNBC’s “The Mehdi Hasan Show.” Source: Screenshot.
The host of MSNBC’s “The Mehdi Hasan Show” tweeted a libelous claim on Saturday about a supposed Israel Defense Forces sniper injuring a Palestinian boy, reported the media watchdog group CAMERA. Hasan retweeted a post by Palestinian activist Issa Amro that included a nine-second video of a Palestinian boy in a vegetable store in Hebron. The youngster runs off-camera by the end of the clip, …

Yom Hazikaron ceremony pays tribute to 60th year since sinking of ‘Egoz’

Participants at the Jewish Agency for Israel’s annual Yom Hazikaron ceremony, which also honored the sinking of the “Egoz” ship in 1961, as well as terror victims and those injured or killed in anti-Semitic attacks worldwide, April 13, 2021. Credit: The Jewish Agency for Israel.
The Jewish Agency for Israel’s annual Yom Hazikaron ceremony—Israel’s Memorial Day—held on Wednesday honored a tragic event in Jewish history, as well as fallen soldiers, terror victims and those injured or killed in anti-Semitic attacks. In 1961, during a secret mission intended to bring Jewish Moroccan immigrants to Israel, the Egoz ship sank, resulting in the loss of 44 people. Among those …
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What is it with J Street and anti-Semites?

Mark Turner, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Why does J Street keep honoring and defending individuals who have made anti-Semitic remarks? The latest is former President Jimmy Carter, who will receive an award from J Street at its upcoming convention on April 18. I’m not saying that Carter’s numerous attacks on Israel—as ugly and unfair as they were—constituted anti-Semitism. Not even his accusation that Israel’s treatment of …

The Jewish establishment thinks credible charges of anti-Semitism are a ‘smear’

Kristen Clarke, June 30, 2009. Credit: Flickr/New America via Wikimedia Commons.
As numerous surveys of public opinion have shown, ours is a time when politics have essentially replaced the role that religion used to play in the lives of most Americans. But recently, it’s become clear that this trend is no longer merely a matter of individuals embracing their partisan affiliations with the same fervor that they once devoted to their …
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