Historian wins fight over plagiarism claim

A leading Israeli art historian has forced two prestigious academic journals to withdraw claims that she plagiarised the work of a Palestinian artist after threatening to take action in the British courts.

Professor Gannit Ankori, the chair of the Hebrew University’s art-history department, reached a settlement with Art Journal, published by the American College Art Association (CAA).

Her lawyers also intervened over an article which appeared in The Art Book, published by the Oxford-based Blackwell Publishing.

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Lost rabbi rescued in West Bank

A London rabbi took a wrong turn in the West Bank last Wednesday and had to be rescued by Palestinian police after entering a refugee camp.

Rabbi Zvi Lieberman, 48, of Edgware Adath Yisroel Synagogue, was slightly injured after his car was stoned by a mob in Qalandiya when he drove into the camp by mistake. He was on his way to officiate at the wedding of one of his congregants at Kibbutz Maaleh Hahamisha, near Jerusalem. Qalandiya  is six miles from the kibbutz.

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Indian 'Nazi arrest' hoax

Hoaxers convinced the Indian press that a Nazi war criminal had been arrested in Goa. Indian newspapers reported that an 88-year-old man named “Johann Bach” had been seized in the holiday resort.

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Rabbis ordained in Poland

Nine Orthodox rabbis were ordained in Warsaw on Sunday by Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich. The new rabbis are understood to be the first Orthodox ministers to be ordained in Poland since the Holocaust.

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Obama to visit Israel for talks

Seeking to bolster his standing on foreign relations and to prove his strong ties with Israel before the November elections, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has announced plans to travel to the Middle East this summer.

Mr Obama will visit war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop in the Middle East for talks in Jerusalem and Amman, and drop in on three European capitals: London, Berlin and Paris.

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Germans row over Shoah event

A debate over how best to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom has underlined differences between Moshe Kantor, the embattled head of the European Jewish Congress, and Jewish leaders in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.

In May, Mr Kantor had announced the formation of the European Forum of Tolerance: The Council of Europe’s Civil Society Representatives, whose first task would be to host a huge commemoration of Kristallnacht in Brussels in November. 

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A day of disbelief

Everyone agreed that it was a terrorist attack that could not have been foreseen.

The driver of the number 13 bus attacked by 31-year-old Husam Dwiat told reporters that his first response had been to harangue him for bad driving.

“When he first hit us,” said Assaf Nadav, “I opened the window to shout at him about his driving. I thought it was just a careless accident. Then he turned the bulldozer around and tipped us over with his shovel.”

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France elects chief rabbi in US-style vote

France elected a new chief rabbi on Sunday after a lengthy presidential-style campaign described by one communal figure as “an unprecedented battle between two radically different characters”.

The victor, Chief Rabbi Gilles Bernheim, the 56-year-old rabbi of Paris’s La Victoire Synagogue, beat Chief Rabbi Joseph Haïm Sitruk, 63, who led the French rabbinate for 20 years.

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Why it could be a record year for Jews in the US Congress

Analysis

This year could bring a record number of Jews into the US Senate and House of Representatives — and some could come from surprising quarters.

Come November 2008, Alaska’s tiny Jewish community — estimates run from 3,000 to 5,000, with most living in the state’s largest city of Anchorage — might be sending its second-ever representative to Capitol Hill. A leading Democratic contender, Ethan Berkowitz is lagging not far behind the main Republican challenger.

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Palestinians push Unicef to boycott Leviev

A Palestinian human-rights organisation has convinced Unicef to reject further financial support from the billionaire diamonds entrepreneur Lev Leviev, whose construction company builds in Israeli settlements.

New York-based Adalah has been pressing for a consumer boycott against the Russian-born Israeli’s jewellery shops since the Denya-Sibos construction company, controlled by his Africa-Israel group, began building houses in three areas of the West Bank.

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