Author: David Leibermann

(JTA) — A proposed Israeli law that would sharply curtail the rights of women and non-Orthodox Jews at the Western Wall sparked alarm on Thursday, leading Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pledge that regulations at the holy site would “remain exactly the same” as they are now.  The bill was submitted by a lawmaker […]

(JTA) — Gautam Adani, the Indian billionaire at the center of allegations of stock market manipulation and fraud, bought Haifa’s port days before the allegations surfaced. On Wednesday, Haaretz reviewed Adani’s purchase of the port in the Israeli coastal city, in light of allegations made by Hindenburg Research, which described Adani as “pulling the largest […]

(JTA) — Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau has announced that the city is no longer twinned with Tel Aviv, citing claims that Israel is guilty of “apartheid,” as well as “flagrant and systematic violation of human rights.”  Barcelona and Tel Aviv entered the relationship in 1998 — when both cities jointly signed a “twin city” agreement […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Benny Chukrun, speaking in Hebrew on a wind-whipped day outside the Israeli embassy in the U.S. capital, had a message for his fellow protesters. “We have a special role in Washington. We have access to the Jewish opinion leaders in the United States,” he said at a rally on Sunday opposing far-reaching […]

(JTA) — French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if the Israeli government’s proposals to decrease the power of the Supreme Court become law, Paris will no longer consider Israel a “common democracy.” Macron and Netanyahu, on his first trip to Europe since returning to power as prime minister, outwardly […]

(JTA) — As much of the financial world increasingly eyes political developments in Israel with concern, a company that specializes in assessing investments based on social responsibility criteria made a special announcement Wednesday in which it declared Israel “a low-risk country.”  That designation is both a signal to investors that they are unlikely to get entangled […]

(New York Jewish Week) — New York University is investigating a graduate student working at the school library who wrote “Free Palestine” and a profanity on an Israeli mail bag left in the trash.  The university accused Naye Idriss in November 2022 of alleged antisemitism and vandalism, according to her attorney. Idriss was informed that […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A slate of 169 prominent American Jews, including former leaders of major mainstream Jewish organizations, called on U.S. politicians not to conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism, a signal of worsening relations between the new far-right Israeli government and the U.S. Jewish community. The statement Wednesday signals increased anxiety among Jewish leaders about […]

(New York Jewish Week) — Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told an audience here that reports of the deaths of Israeli democracy are exaggerated, and urged American Jews to make their concerns known to the new far-right government rather than walk away. “There are a lot of foolish words flying out in the air,” […]

(JTA) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken quoted from a Jewish prayer on arrival in Tel Aviv for a state visit on Monday, days after a deadly terror attack outside a Jerusalem synagogue set off a violent uptick in Israeli-Palestinian violence across the country. Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday and […]