From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Presidents Conference wants Netanyahu attacker ‘held to account’
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations called on the White House to “hold to account” an anonymous official who slurred Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while the Anti-Defamation League declared the matter closed.
“We ask that the person responsible be held to account and the appropriate steps be taken by the administration,” said a statement Wednesday from the leadership of the Presidents Conference, the foreign policy umbrella for Jewish groups, referring to a report this week in The Atlantic quoting an anonymous official as describing Netanyahu as “chickenshit.”
The Presidents Conference statement also welcomed a White House statement describing the attack as “inappropriate” and “counterproductive,” and derided “personal insults and inappropriate characterizations from both Israeli and U.S. officials.”
Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Israel kills former Palestinian prisoner in East al-Quds
According to reports from the occupied Palestinian territories, Israeli forces shot dead Moataz Hejazi after storming his house in the Abu Tor neighborhood of East al-Quds.
The 32-year old Palestinian had spent 11 years in an Israeli jail and was released in 2012.
Meanwhile, clashes broke out between Israeli forces and Palestinian protesters in the area. Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Daily Forward
Ukraine’s Election Results Are Good for the Jews — But What Comes Next?
News Analysis
Ukraine’s parliamentary election delivered a stinging rebuttal to Russia’s claims that this year’s pro-Western revolution was galvanized by fascism and anti-Semitism.
Far-right and nationalist parties, long singled out by Russia as prime evidence of the revolution’s extremist character, suffered a series of stunning setbacks.
The nationalist Svoboda party, which two years ago won more than 10% of the vote, failed to reach the 5% threshold necessary to win seats in parliament. The newly formed Radical Party, led by the firebrand Oleg Lyashko, had been widely tipped to emerge as the country’s second-largest party. But it came in fifth, with less than 8% of the vote.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Israel closes Temple Mount to Muslims, Jews after attempted assassination
JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israel closed the Temple Mount to Muslim worshippers and to Jewish and non-Jewish visitors in the wake of the attempted assassination of an Israeli activist.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the closure of the holy site on early Thursday, hours after Temple Mount activist Rabbi Yehuda Glick was shot in Jerusalem, a “declaration of war.”
“This dangerous Israeli escalation is a declaration of war on the Palestinian people and its sacred places, and on the Arab and Islamic nation,” Abbas said, according to his spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeina.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Daily Forward
‘Birthright’ for Newlyweds? It’s Coming Soon.
New Program Offers Subsidized Honeymoons to Israel
(Haaretz) — Inspired by Taglit-Birthright’s free trips to Israel for college students, a brand new program will bring Jewish newlyweds from North America on heavily subsidized honeymoons to the Holy Land.
The program, Honeymoon Israel, has just obtained initial funding to finance two pilot trips this spring, each of which will bring 20 couples on nine-day tours of the country. The first trip will target couples from Los Angeles and Phoenix, and the second one, couples from Los Angeles and Atlanta.
Honeymoon Israel is a joint initiative of two Americans, both highly experienced in the Jewish organizational world. Mike Wise, the current executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Buffalo who previously held senior positions at various other federations, conceived the idea for the program and outlined his idea at a conference on Jewish engagement in Jerusalem last year. Avi Rubel, the founding North American director of Masa – a joint venture of the government and the Jewish Agency, which runs dozens of educational, volunteer and internships programs in Israel – happened to be in the audience and liked what he heard. He offered to help out Wise, and thus the partnership was formed. Both Wise and Rubel will be devoting themselves full time to the new initiative.
Click here for the full story
