A pro-Israel student organization at Canada’s Ryerson University pulled co-sponsorship from a controversial event this week, after being harassed by the Jewish community for participating, a group executive told The Algemeiner Friday. The school’s chapter of Students Supporting Israel (SSI) was set to back Wednesday’s program on free speech featuring Ezra Levant, the Jewish founder of the right-wing online platform Rebel Media, but rolled back its involvement after being flooded by antagonistic messages from Ryerson students and the greater Toronto community, said the student executive, who asked to remain anonymous. “We got a lot of flak and harassment, all from other Jews. We receive...
The head of a UK enforcement and education charity told The Algemeiner on Friday that universities must be firm and explicit about condemning antisemitism when confronted with anti-Israel activity on campus. Gideon Falter, chairman of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, said, “Numerous events during so-called ‘Israeli Apartheid Week’  [IAW] were cancelled this year because of concerns that they were a vehicle for antisemitic hatred. In almost all cases, though, the universities banning the events said that they were doing so on safety grounds, or because proper room-booking procedures had not been followed.” He welcomed administrations refusing to allow IAW programming to go forward, but said they need to ...
Baltimore, MD – Mar. 23, 2017 - It is with deep sorrow that BaltimoreJewishLife.com informs the community of the petirah of Shifrah Wollner, a’h, beloved mother of Chane (Yehuda Leib) Steiman, Barbara (Jack) Nicholson, Noah Wollner, Gabriel (Davida) Wollner, and Dov Wollner; loving sister of Malka Shavrick, Zipporah Rosenblatt, and Esther Macklin. Shiva will be observed at 6414 Park Heights Avenue, Apt. E2, Baltimore, MD 21215, through Shacharis Thirsday morning, Mar. 30 Mincha/Maariv: 7:15 PM Shacharis: 7:30 AM  Bila HaMaves LaNetzach...
Washington - Fresh off a defeat on U.S. healthcare legislation, the White House warned rebellious conservative lawmakers that they should get behind President Donald Trump’s agenda or he may opt to bypass them on future legislative fights, including tax reform. Both Trump and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus scolded hardline conservatives who rejected legislation backed by the White House to overhaul Obamacare. Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Priebus held out the possibility of working with moderate Democrats as well as Republicans to pass other aspects of Trump’s agenda, such as his proposed budget, the revamp of the tax code and a renewed effort at healthcare reform. “If we can come up with a bill that accomplishes the goals of the president with ...
Encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp must make their platforms accessible to intelligence agencies, a top British security official declared Sunday amid reports that the Westminster attacker used the service minutes before his assault on Parliament. Home Secretary Amber Rudd said it is “completely unacceptable” for messaging services to provide end-to-end encryption that means security services cannot listen to plots being discussed. “We need to make sure that organizations like WhatsApp, and there are plenty of others like that, don’t provide a secret place for terrorists to communicate with each other,” she said. Rudd also urged technology companies to do a better job at preventing the publication of material that promotes extremism. British police...
Boris Epshteyn, the special assistant to the president in charge of surrogate operations is leaving his post, a senior Trump administration official told ABC News Saturday. He may assume a different role in the White House, though. “We are exploring opportunities within the administration,” the official said. Epshteyn has served various roles, including senior adviser on the Trump-Pence transition team and director of communications for the Presidential Inaugural Committee. A lawyer who received his J.D. from Georgetown University, the Russian-born Epshteyn frequently appeared on TV: first as a surrogate during the campaign, then as a paid staffer. Epshteyn has yet to publicly comment about departing his post.
WASHINGTON (JTA) – AIPAC launched its annual conference with an appeal to bipartisanship, but Israel’s Ambassador Ron Dermer made clear his government’s preference for the Trump administration over its predecessor. AIPAC President Lillian Pinkus cast the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, in her opening remarks, as an island of bipartisanship in an increasingly polarized political climate. “Our nation is embroiled in difficult debates touching on who we are, what we believe, and what values we prioritize,” Pinkus said. “Americans across the country are retreating into ideological corners.” Dermer, speaking at the same opening plenary, said that for the first time in years there was “no daylight” between Israel and the United S...
 A Jewish Community Center in Dallas, Texas, was evacuated due to a threatening call hours after an arrest was made in Israel in connection with dozens of other such threats around the country. The Aaron Family JCC in North Dallas received the threatening phone call and evacuated the building shortly before 5 p.m. on Thursday. The building remained evacuated for a short time before regular activity there resumed. The JCC posted a message on its website that the building was evacuated, as well as a post on its Facebook page which said the center was “temporarily closed to access.” The Dallas JCC released a statement Friday confirming that a threatening phone call had been received, and that an arrest had been made on Thursday in connection with threat...
While Kulanu party leader Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon insists he will not compromise on the IBA matter, willing to go to early elections, the chareidi parties do not share his position. Kahlon has been going head to head with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, with the latter wishing to dissolve the Israel Broadcast Authority (IBA) to create a new entity, the Israel Public Broadcasting Authority (IPBA) in its place. Both senior cabinet officials state they are unwilling to compromise and are willing to call for early elections if need be. Coalition leader MK (Likud) David Bitan told the media that Kahlon’s Kulanu party has ten seats and Naftali Bennet’s Bayit Yehudi party has eight seats and they must learn that the coalition is led by Likud and not them. This, insists Bita...
The Petach Tikva Magistrate Court rejected an appeal by the Israel police and ordered five prisoners from the town of Homesh released Sunday. Homesh was a Jewish town in northern Samaria which the government destroyed in 2005, at the same time as the disengagement from Gaza. As was the case in Gaza, all Jewish residents were expelled from their homes in Homesh, and Jews have been banned from returning ever since. The detainees were arrested on suspicion of attempted to reenter the community where they once lived. Attorney Aharon Roza, who represented the six detainees on behalf of the Honenu legal organization, disputed the police's claim that those who violate the Disengagement Law banning former residents from returning to the site of their former homes constitute a danger, and r...
Arkansas state legislature passes a law that prohibits state agencies from contracting with or investing in companies that boycott Israel. JTA - The Arkansas state legislature has passed a law that prohibits state agencies from contracting with or investing in companies that boycott Israel. The law was sent to Arkansas State Gov. William Hutchinson on Friday for his signature. The bill passed the state House of Representatives on its third reading on Wednesday by a vote of 69 to 3. It had passed the Senate earlier in the month by a vote of 29-0 with one abstention. The bipartisan legislation to counter the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions or BDS movement agaisnt Israel was sponsored by state Rep. Jim Dotson and state Sen. Bart Hester. “Israel and Arkansas are great friends,...
Fight breaks out at pro-Trump march in southern California after anti-Trump protesters use pepper spray on marchers. A march in support of US President Donald Trump at a southern California beach turned violent Saturday when clashes broke out between a group of 30 anti-Trump protesters and some of the 2,000 Trump supporters who took part in the march. Four people were arrested following the scuffle a tHuntington Beach, during which anti-Trump protesters used pepper-spray on pro-Trump marchers. Jennifer Sterling, one of the organizers of the march, was among the people who was struck by pepper spray in her eyes. According to the Los Angeles Times, an anti-Trump protester was punched and kicked by Trump supporters after he attacked them with pepper spray. One man admitted to hit...
Group of Warsaw residents take part in symbolic ritual destroying 'ugly, cold and bad' Jewish effigy to mark start of spring. JTA - A group of Warsaw residents celebrated the first day of spring by burning the effigy of a Jewish woman. A video from last week’s incident was removed from YouTube. A Polish prosecutor reportedly will investigate the incident, the Wporst news website reported. The recording featured a group called “Conscience of the Nation TV”. They burned and drowned a Jewish effigy in the Vistula river, said to be the longest and largest river in Poland. The custom of drowning a large puppet depicting Marzanna – symbolizing winter – on the first day of spring, is a popular element of Polish folklore practiced especially ...
Islamic and Palestinian Authority groups near Ramallah announced on Saturday that their "Land Day" ceremonies on March 31 would be held near the Ramallah-area Arab towns of Kafr Malik and al-Mar'yaer. The locations were chosen to express opposition to Israeli towns in the areas of Kafr Malik, al-Mar'yaer, and Khirbet Abu Falah. The ceremonies will include mass prayer for lands "threatened" by Israel in opposition to the Arabs' plans for the area. Islamic terror groups and the PA said in a statement, "The crimes of the Israeli occupation will not deter our nation from its plan to fight to eliminate the problem, while protecting its holy places and rights to use force. We will not relent until we achieve victory."
PM Netanyahu meets with Finance Minister Kahlon to discuss Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation and solve coalition crisis. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) are meeting in Netanyahu's office to discuss the crisis over the formation of the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) after a meeting with the coalition's other party heads. The meeting was attended by several party heads but Health Minister Yakov Litzman (UTJ) suggested dismissing the meeting to leave Kahlon and Netanyahu alone. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas) also attended the meeting. Previously, Deri managed to help Kahlon and Netanyahu work out an agreement. This agreement was the one Netanyahu reneged on last Saturday night. However, this time D...
Prime Minister Netanyahu opens weekly cabinet meeting with British PM Theresa May and change in Albion's position in UN debate. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened the weekly cabinet meeting this morning (Sunday), referring to his meeting this weekend with British Prime Minister Theresa May. "On Friday, I spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May. I sent her condolences on behalf of all the citizens of Israel and the government of Israel to the families of those murdered and of course, my best wishes for the wounded's recovery," Netanyahu said. "I told her that we in Israel have faced terrorist ramming attacks and stabbings, and we understand that the terror that strikes us is the terror that strikes in London and strikes in Brussels and strikes in Nice and elsewher...
The Republican Party of “no” for Democrat Barack Obama’s eight years is having a hard time getting to “yes” in the early Donald Trump era. The unmitigated failure of the GOP bill to replace Obamacare underscored that Republicans are a party of upstart firebrands, old-guard conservatives and moderates in Democratic-leaning districts. Despite the GOP monopoly on Washington, they are pitted against one another and struggling for a way to govern. The divisions cost the party its best chance to fulfill a seven-year promise to undo Obama’s Affordable Care Act and cast doubt on whether the Republican-led Congress can do the monumental — the first overhaul of the nation’s tax system in more than 30 years — as well as the basics — keepin...
Chairman of Republicans Overseas Israel says Jewish groups which blamed Trump for spate of bomb threats won't apologize to the president. Establishment Jewish organizations in the US were quick to pin the blame for a recent spate of bomb threats against Jewish institutions on the election of Donald Trump, his supporters, and even the president himself. The claim was made despite a dearth of evidence that the president, his entourage, or his supporters were actually responsible, directly or indirectly, for the uptick in anti-Jewish harassment. That did little, however, to dampen the oft-repeated claim by left-leaning media outlets and establishment Jewish groups that Trump’s election and the legitimization of a vaguely defined “Alt-Right” somehow encouraged anti...
An American counter-terrorism airstrike conducted last weekend in eastern Afghanistan killed a senior al Qaeda leader named Qari Yasin, the Pentagon announced Saturday. Yasin is responsible for plotting a number of high-profile al Qaeda terror attacks, including the 2008 bombing of a Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, and a 2009 bombing that targeted a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, Pakistan. In addition to the dozens of innocent victims killed in these attacks, the 2008 bombing in Islamabad killed two U.S. military personnel: Air Force Maj. Rodolfo I. Rodriguez and Navy Cryptologic Technician Third Class Petty Officer Matthew J. O’Bryan. “The death of Qari Yasin is evidence that terrorists who defame Islam and deliberately target innocent people wil...
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, who is visiting in Washington DC, met last week in the White House with senior Trump advisor Jason Greenblatt, who was in Israel on his first visit to the region following US elections to meet with state leaders. Barkat remains an audible voice calling on President Donald Trump to fulfill his campaign promise to relocate the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
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