World news

US considering arming rebels in Syria — despite Israeli warnings

By Anshel Pfeffer, May 2, 2013

for the first time, the US is considering arming rebel groups in Syria.

America’s toughening stance on the issue follows the reported use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime.

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Hungarian PM pledges to stop far-right protests ahead of WJC meeting

By Zoe Winograd, May 1, 2013

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has banned protests against the World Jewish Congress plenary assembly, due to take place in Budapest next week.

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New York synagogue terror plotter sent to jail

By Zoe Winograd, April 29, 2013

A man who planned to blow-up synagogues in New York has been sentenced to five years in jail.

Mohamed Mamdouh pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit terrorism and possessing criminal weapons last year. New York State Supreme Court issued the jail sentence on Friday.

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World Jewish Congress defends invite for hate-link Orban

By Anna Sheinman, April 26, 2013

The World Jewish Congress (WJC) has defended its invitation to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to speak at its quadriennial assembly, despite his failure to denounce the hate speech of his close friend and one of his party’s founders, Zsolt Bayer.

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In Warsaw, monument to a new start

By Simon Rocker, April 26, 2013

The 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising last week was more than a commemoration of the best known act of Jewish resistance against the Nazis.

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How the Star of David went street

By Toby Axelrod, April 25, 2013

What’s a non-Jewish guy doing making Jewish fashion? It is all about fighting antisemitism and promoting “Jewish chic”, according to Hannes Hein, the owner of Ook Fashion.

The Munich-based artist designed his caps and hair accessories with Jewish symbols with the hope that people would start wearing them on the streets of Germany.

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Thousands hit by Israeli airline strike

By Anshel Pfeffer, April 25, 2013

Tens of thousands of Israelis and foreign travellers were stranded this week as the employees of three Israeli airlines, El Al, Arkia and Israir, went on a two-day strike.

This was the first major showdown between the new Netanyahu government and the trade unions, and ended on Monday night in a compromise deal.

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Pope Francis and Rabbi Skorka: firm friends but football rivals

By Isabel de Bertodano, April 25, 2013

On the evening before his inauguration last month, Pope Francis made a call to an old friend in Buenos Aires.

“Hello, it’s Bergoglio. They trapped me here in Rome and they won’t let me come home,” he told Rabbi Abraham Skorka, whom he has known for 20 years.

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UN official Richard Falk links Boston bombings to US policy on Israel

By Simon Rocker, April 25, 2013

A United Nations official who has been the subject of repeated complaints provoked fresh outrage this week over comments viewed as linking the Boston bombings with US policy on Israel.

Richard Falk, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, who is Jewish, made his remarks in a blog on the “marathon murders”.

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Israel rabbinate backs Berlin rabbi over oral suction

By Zoe Winograd, April 24, 2013

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel has written a letter in support of Berlin’s Chabad Rabbi Yehudah Teichtal, who has come under fire for including the practice of metzitah b’peh – direct oral suction of blood from the wound – in his son’s circumcision.

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