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.…

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

Polish Jewish cemetery desecrated

A hundred gravestones in the Polish Jewish cemetery of Czestochowa were vandalized, many with anti-Semitic graffiti. The umbrella group of Polish Jewry was told about the desecration on Sunday after local police in the southern Polish town…

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

Hebron squatters evicted

Israeli security forces evicted Jewish settlers who had taken over disputed properties in Hebron. Thousands of soldiers and police descended on the West Bank city Tuesday to remove two Israeli families squatting in abandoned apartments. The evictions met…

Various JTA World Briefs from our 08/03/07 issue.

France urged to move on Holocaust archives

Members of Congress urged France’s foreign minister to ratify amendments necessary to open Holocaust archives. Led by Reps. Alcee L. Hastings (D-Fla.) and Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), 34 members of Congress sent a letter to…

Aliyah of 600 on one day in July was biggest group move since ‘72

Descending from the plane with her parents and three siblings, the first thing that struck Leslie Elgrably at Ben Gurion Airport was the intense heat and humidity.

Elgrably, 24, from the Paris suburb of Antony,…

Is Russia’s influence in Middle East compromised by its ties with Hamas?

Russian officials are welcoming President George Bush’s call for an international peace conference on the Middle East, seeing it in part as a way to bolster its own role in the region.

But Russia’s ties with…

Various JTA World Briefs from our 07/27/07 issue.

Sherwin Wine, founder of Humanistic Judaism, dies

The founder of Humanistic Judaism, Rabbi Sherwin Wine, died in a car crash in Morocco. Wine, 79, was killed Saturday. Wine, a Detroit native who was raised by Conservative parents, attended Reform rabbinical school…

ADL questions statements by U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison

Aides to the country’s first Muslim congressman say they were blindsided by a stinging condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League because it came after the lawmaker had told the ADL that he planned to recant his comparison of Bush administration policies…

Various World Briefs from our 07/20/07 issue.

Poll: Jews losing favor with Europeans

A survey of six European countries found an increase in negative attitudes toward Jews. The survey, conducted a month ago by the Anti-Defamation League in Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Holland, Switzerland and Britain, found favorable views of…

Various World Briefs from our 07/13/07 issue.

Buchanan feuds with Foxman

Patrick Buchanan assailed Abraham Foxman’s criticism of the Vatican revival of the Latin Mass. In an article published Tuesday on the conservative Web site Human Events, Buchanan challenged the Anti-Defamation League national director’s understanding of Catholicism based on…

Vatican move to permit Latin Mass raises questions, sparks outrage

 A measure intended to promote greater unity within the Roman Catholic Church by increasing the use of the Latin Mass is sparking confusion and controversy among Jewish groups as they scramble to understand the full extent of the…

Various world news briefs from our 07/06/07 issue.

Gibson movie deal

A prominent Polish cleric with a history of anti-Semitism said Mel Gibson may make a film about his life. Father Henryk Jankowski came to prominence for his role spearheading strikes that ushered Communism out of Poland in the…

Backers of Polish museum hope groundbreaking boosts fund raising

Supporters and staff of a new museum on Polish Jewry are hoping a high-profile groundbreaking ceremony will draw in the additional funds needed to finish what aims to be Europe’s largest Jewish cultural attraction under one roof.

The…

  Waldheim’s Nazi career awakened Austrians to wartime past

Revelations about the Nazi past of Kurt Waldheim and the subsequent international ostracism of Austria during his presidency prompted Austrians to re-examine their wartime role, one in which they long identified as Hitler’s victims rather than…

Two architects pursuing PhDs at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have devised a low-tech way to collect dew from the air and turn it into fresh water. Their invention recently won an international competition seeking to make clean, safe water available to millions around the world.

The brainchild…

Various World news briefs from our 06/15/07 issue

German fund done paying laborers

A German fund set up to compensate forced laborers during the Holocaust has completed paying victims. The Remembrance, Responsibility and Future Foundation, set up in 2000, paid $5.8 billion to 1.7 million people, mostly non-Jews who…

Iran helps make the case to pursue sanctions policy

Once again, the best advocate for getting tough with Iran may be Iran itself.

Not for the first time, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s timing has been exquisite: Just as President Bush was getting ready to make the case to a nervous…

Various world news briefs from our 05/25/07 issue

British boycotters unmoved by Israelis

Four Israeli academics sought to sway a group of their British counterparts away from their support of a proposed boycott of Israeli academics. The British academicians reportedly were unconvinced by the Israelis’ arguments at the meeting,…

Rumors aside, Holocaust teaching will remain compulsory in Britain

Britain’s Holocaust education programs still rank among the strongest in the world.

That’s the message from British educators and government, contradicting recent reports that the Department for Education and Skills would scrap…

Jewish support for Sarkozy reflects stand on anti-Semitism

  The 53 percent support for Nicolas Sarkozy in the second round of France’s presidential election was the strongest showing by a right-wing candidate since Charles de Gaulle perhaps because he was the man…