Jewish institutions will receive the majority of U.S. federal funds designated this year to help secure non-profit organizations.

Of the 308 grants awarded through the Urban Areas Security Initiative Non-Profit Security Grant Program, 251 are being allocated to Jewish groups, totaling $19.6 million.

The $24 million…

Google will not delist JewWatch.com from its index, despite nearly 400,000 digital signatures appearing on an online petition demanding its removal

Circulating since April 2004, the email chain letter petition to remove the anti-Semitic website JewWatch.com from Google’s search engine, is still out there in cyberspace.…

The high political theater surrounding Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York this week triggered plenty of protests, headlines and debates. But it remains unclear if, even after all the exertions this week, the international community has inched any closer to resolving the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program.…

Amid protests in New York and Washington, front-runners in the 2008 presidential campaign lined up to blast Columbia University for its decision to host Monday’s lecture by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Sunday that she would not have…

Barely a year ago, Jewish groups were urging the White House to tone down rhetoric linking its Iran policy with pledges to protect Israel because they feared Jews would be blamed for any military action the United States might take.

Any such qualms seem to have evaporated as…

In the aftermath of her son Ari’s murder by an Arab gunman on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1994, Devorah Halberstam was introduced to a federal judge for the Southern District of New York with a longstanding interest in terrorism-related issues.

In the years since, Judge Michael Mukasey became a fixture…

It’s 7:55 a.m., and parents are dropping off their kids in front of the Ben Gamla Charter School along busy Hollywood Boulevard. Amid a noisy melange of languages—English, Spanish, Hebrew, French and Russian --- the uniformed children say their good-byes and rush off to class at one of the…

In her new position paper on Israel, Hillary Rodham Clinton comes not only to praise the Jewish state but to bury doubts that she would be any less vigilant in its protection than the Bush administration.

The position paper, published this week, goes so far as to outflank President Bush…

Mysterious YouTube video has Yeshiva administration at the end of their rope; Three South Floridians were among the team that pulled the prank.

A video recently posted on YouTube shows a group of Yeshiva University students rappelling from the roofs of each building in the school’s uptown…

Young American Jews are increasingly alienated from Israel, according to a report released this week.

The report, titled "Beyond Distancing: Young Adult American Jews and their Alienation from Israel" and commissioned by The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, generally substantiates current suspicions rather than revealing new surprises.

The major…

Various JTA US Briefs from our 08/10/07 issue.

Yeshiva grad survives bridge collapse

A former yeshiva student survived after his car plunged into the Mississippi River when a Minneapolis bridge collapsed. Roman Koyrakh, a 20-year-old college student, was on the bridge at 6 p.m. Wednesday, when the bridge collapsed,…

Minneapolis-area Jews are offering aid and solace to victims of the tragic collapse of the I-35W Bridge in that city—and giving thanks for the survival of a former yeshiva student.

In a statement posted on its Web site, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas…

Before signing on to President Bush’s proposed arms sale to Saudis, Democrats in Congress and pro-Israel groups want answers

The Bush administration is pledging a 25 percent hike in defense aid to Israel as part of its effort to push through a

massive arms deal for Saudi Arabia, but…

Various U.S. briefs from our 07/20/07 issue.

U.S. Jewish prof calls Gaza treatment ‘Holocaust’

A U.S. Jewish law professor justified comparing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians to the Holocaust. "Is it an irresponsible overstatement to associate the treatment of Palestinians with this criminalized Nazi record of collective atrocity?" asked…

Kashrut authorities differ on the use of the “D.E.” designation on Kosher-supervised products

If David Clements of Hollywood takes a bite of a food containing even the slightest traces of milk, he is in for a potentially life threatening allergic reaction. 

“We have…

Children of intermarriages fight for right to be ‘half-Jews’

The Jewish world has a problem with the way Renee Kaplan defines herself: half-Jewish.

Kaplan, a television producer in her mid-30s, is the daughter of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother who was raised Jewish.

"I’ve had endlessly…

Various U. S. news briefs from our 06/29/07 issue

Footlik gets Jewish backing in House bid

A former White House Jewish liaison running for Congress solicited the support of top Jewish communal leaders in a fund-raising letter. In an e-mail headlined, "We support Jay. Will you?" twelve prominent Jewish…

University’s Israel program to receive major boost with creation of Schusterman Center for Israel Studies

Academics and funders see a $15 million gift to establish a center for Israel studies at Brandeis University as a first step in a new philanthropic push to beef up Israel…

Jewish leaders concerned about funding for Abbas

It took little time for the Bush administration to come up with answers to the radically changed Palestinian reality: Fund and engage with the new moderate Palestinian Authority government.

Yet those answers raised questions for some of Israel’s Jewish supporters across…

Various U S news briefs from our 06/15/07 issue

Insurance agent scammed elderly Jews

A South Florida insurance agent who allegedly preyed on elderly Jews had his license revoked by Florida’s chief financial officer. Leighton David Applefeld, the owner of Focus Financial Services in Delray Beach, used "religious affinity" to…