Jewish News

UNESCO head marks Holocaust Day in Paris

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova marks International Holocaust Commemoration Day by laying a wreath to Holocaust victims at the Paris Shoah Memorial on Wednesday.At the memorial, accompanied by her Deputy Director-General Getachew Engida (Ethiopia, center), Assistant Director General Eric Falt (France, second from left) and her diplomatic adviser Dr. Graciela Samuels (Israel, right), Bokova pledged to set a principle that ‘every ...

Undercover TSA agent gets through new airport scanners…whilst carrying a HANDGUN

An undercover agent made it through security at a major airport carrying a handgun during testing of new enhanced-imaging body scanners.The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent held a pistol hidden in her underwear as she walked through security at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.The testing has been condemned as a ‘dismal failure’ by experts and now raises questions about the ...

UN: World Population Set to Reach 7 Billion Today

With the world’s population projected to top 7 billion today, Oct. 31, the United Nations launched a global initiative – 7 Billion Actions – bringing together governments, businesses, the media and individuals to confront the challenges and seize the opportunities offered by the milestone.“We are not here simply to acknowledge that milestone. We are here to address all of its ...

UN Security Council members urge Israel to lift Gaza siege

Members of the United Nations Security Council on Monday urged Israel to lift its economic blockade of the Gaza Strip, in an emergency session to discuss the deadly Israel Navy raid on a convoy of international activists sailing to the coastal territory. Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco said in his briefing to the UN’s most powerful body that Monday’s bloodshed would ...

UN report: Palestinian Authority is paving the way to statehood

Marked progress in six areas of Palestinian governance has paved the way for a functioning state, but there are still obstacles to be overcome, said a United Nations report released Tuesday.The report, titled “Palestinian State-building: A Decisive Period” is based on a review of the Palestinian Authority’s implementation of a program initiated in August 2009. The program was geared toward ...

UN Recognizes Palestinian State

The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to recognize a Palestinian state, a long-sought victory for the Palestinians but an embarrassing diplomatic defeat for the United States.From the AP:The resolution upgrading the Palestinians’ status to a nonmember observer state at the United Nations was approved by a more than two-thirds majority of the 193-member world body — a vote of 138-9, ...

UN prepares to condemn Jewish life in Judea and Samaria

At the behest of the Palestinian Authority, the UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution that condemns Jews for settling in their ancestral lands of Judea and Samaria, and demanding that Israel halt the practice altogether.Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told reporters on Wednesday that his government would soon be seeking official UN Security Council condemnation of Jewish communities ...

ULY of Ocean Parkway Fine-tunes Teaching Skills

This past Sunday the Rebbeim and English teachers of the Lubavitcher Yeshiva of Ocean Parkway got together to fine tune and hone their educational skills.A guest speaker for professional development was invited to attend a Yom Iyun in order to address the entire staff on the subjects of “checking (your students) for understanding” knowing if you are reaching the whole ...

Ultra-Orthodox women fight for right to serve in Hatzalah ambulance service

Only weeks after the city of New York forced a bus line operating between ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn neighborhoods to end its separation of men and women, the borough has been thrown into another debate involving contentious gender policies.Only this time, it’s a struggle for equality taking place where life-and-death decisions have often taken place: Hatzalah, a veteran emergency medical service that ...

Ultra-Orthodox teens accost U.S. immigrant boy in Beit Shemesh

On Monday, just two weeks after a big demonstration sparked by an incident in which an ultra-Orthodox man spat at a local 8-year-old girl dressed “immodestly,” another student at Beit Shemesh’s Orot state religious school was targeted by Haredi teens on the short walk home from school.The victim this time was a third-grader, whose parents asked to identify him only ...

Ultra-Orthodox message wall goes online in Jerusalem neighborhood

For ultra-Orthodox Jews who shun secular newspapers, radio and the Internet, the best way to hear the news has long been by literally reading the writing on the wall.The insular, strictly religious community still relies on black and white posters pasted up on walls in their neighborhoods to hear the latest rulings from important rabbis on modest dress, upcoming protests ...

Ultra-Orthodox Jews Increasingly Refuse to Sit Near Women on El Al Flights

El Al passengers are noting a recent phenomenon involving clusters of ultra-Orthodox men approaching female passengers prior to take-off and requesting to switch seats, according to El Al customers and tour operators.While the phenomenon of lone Haredi men approaching female passengers is not new, and has in fact gone on for years, large groups of Haredim – upwards of 15-20 ...