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May 22, 2016 at 10:17 am
Jerusalem - Israel’s prime minister says his government will continue pushing for peace with the Palestinians, even after adding an ultranationalist party to its ranks.
Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to be trying Sunday to soothe fears over the appointment of Avigdor Lieberman as the new defense minister. Lieberman is one of Israel’s most polarizing politicians and is known for his fiery rhetoric toward the Palestinians, among others.
Opening his weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said he wished to clarify that his broader government will “continue to seek a peace process with the Palestinians.”
Lieberman’s posting caps a dramatic political week in Israel, in which Netanyahu appeared close to adding the moderate Labor party instead. Defense Minister Mo...
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May 22, 2016 at 10:13 am
Top Jerusalem hotel allegedly confronted band playing for Arab workers, said religious garb would be 'insulting.'
One of Jerusalem's top hotels barred a band from wearing yarmulkes and tzitzit, i.e. Jewish religious garb, out of fear of offending its Arab workers.
The King David hotel invited the Inbalim band to play for its workers, Army Radio reports - the vast majority of whom are Arab.
As such, the band adapted its repertoire to suit its audience, including many songs from Umm Kulthum and Farid al-Atrash. But half an hour before the show, the producers banned the band from wearing their yarmulkes, "because it will hurt the feelings of our Arab workers."
The band's director, secular Israeli Noam Cohen, refused to order...
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May 22, 2016 at 8:51 am
During an election debate on Thursday night, Austrian presidential hopeful Norbert Hofer was accused of inventing a story about a terror incident he allegedly witnessed in Israel, The Guardian reported.
The moderator of the televised debate between Hofer, of the Freedom Party (FPÖ), and rival Alexander Van der Bellen, an independent candidate, backed by the Greens, challenged the right-wing candidate’s claims about personally witnessing the shooting of an armed woman on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The presenter also showed a video in which an Israel Police spokesperson denied that the incident ever took place.
Throughout his election campaign, Hofer has repeatedly told the tale about the sho...
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May 22, 2016 at 8:41 am
Kabul, Afghanistan - The Afghan government and a senior Taliban commander confirmed Sunday that the extremist group’s leader, Mullah Mohammed Akhtar Mansour, has been killed in a U.S. drone strike.
Mullah Abdul Rauf, who recently reconciled with Mansour after initially rebelling against his ascension to the leadership, told The Associated Press that Mansour died in the strike late Friday “in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area.”
Afghanistan’s intelligence agency announced that Mansour had been killed in an air attack Saturday afternoon.
In a statement, the National Directorate of Security, as the secret service is known, said the attack took place in Baluchistan province, in southwestern Pakistan.
It is believed to have been the first drone strike on Bal...
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May 22, 2016 at 8:13 am
When it comes to the security situation at Israel’s borders in recent years, no border has been more perilous for the Jewish state as its southern boundary with the Gaza Strip. Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and the Palestinian terror group Hamas seized control of the coastal enclave in 2007. Since then, Gaza has given Israel three wars, thousands of rocket attacks, and a network of cross-border terror tunnels that Hamas is currently trying to rebuild.
Since the conclusion of the latest Israel-Hamas war in the summer of 2014, both Israel and the international community have taken steps to rebuild Gaza in order to ease the humanitarian situation there and prevent another conflict. But over the last several years, chaos in the rest of the Middle East has pu...
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May 22, 2016 at 8:08 am
Despite ongoing security threats and regional instability, Israelis can expect to live well into their 80s, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) newly released global report on life expectancy.
Japan has the world’s highest average life expectancy—nearly 84 years—followed by Switzerland, Singapore, Australia, and Spain. Israel came in sixth. The shortest life expectancy belongs to Sierra Leone, with women in that country only expected to live to about 51 years and men about 59 years.
Israelis can expect an average lifespan of 82.5 years—80.6 for men and 84.3 for women, according to WHO. This sharply contrasts with some of Israel’s neighbors, including Egypt (71 years) and Jordan (74 years). For those living in conflict-rid...
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May 22, 2016 at 8:07 am
The dollar has been boosted by US Fed minutes, which revealed that a June rate hike is an option.
The shekel is again weakening in early afternoon inter-bank trading against the dollar and is stable against the euro. The shekel has now lost more than 2% against the dollar this week in part following the publication of disappointing first quarter growth figures by the Central Bureau of Statistics.
The shekel-dollar exchange rate is up 0.47% at NIS 3.853/$ compared with yesterday's representative rate, and the shekel-euro rate is down 0.07% at NIS 4.32/€.
Yesterday, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative rate up 0.445% from Tuesday's rate at NIS 3.835/$, and the representative shekel-euro rate up 0.035% at 4.323/€.
The dollar is stronger follo...
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May 22, 2016 at 8:07 am
Detroit - An 89-year-old Holocaust survivor has fulfilled her longtime wish to sing the U.S. national anthem at a Major League Baseball game.
Hermina Hirsch sang Saturday at Comerica Park in Detroit before the Detroit Tigers played Tampa Bay.
The Czechoslovakia native lives in Southfield, Michigan. She was 17 when her family was split up and sent to concentration camps in 1944. According to her granddaughter, Andrea Hirsch, Hermina Hirsch and her older sister were shuffled between five concentration camps, including Auschwitz. She was liberated in January 1945.
WWJ-TV has reported that Hirsch has been a Tigers fan since she moved to the Detroit area more than 60 years ago. Hirsch has been singing the anthem for years during Holocaust survivor meetings in the Detroit area.
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May 22, 2016 at 8:04 am
Baltimore, MD - May 16, 2016 - Have you ever wondered how a Sefer Torah is made? What about Tefillin? Have you ever had the opportunity to write with ink and quill on real parchment? Well, Sunday, May 22nd marks a first for Baltimore. The Jewish community is invited to a one-of-a-kind, interactive experience for the entire family - - The Not Just A STa”M Event!
This original event will feature unique experiences for all ages. Aside from the food, carnival games, prizes, and petting zoo, there will also be lots of things to do and learn. Participants will be able to write with ink and quill on real parchment that they can take home with them, they can learn how Tefillin is made, and make a wooden Mezuzah. In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to view leather in diffe...
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May 22, 2016 at 7:57 am
Washington - A group the White House recently identified as a key surrogate in selling the Iran nuclear deal gave National Public Radio $100,000 last year to help it report on the pact and related issues, according to the group’s annual report. It also funded reporters and partnerships with other news outlets.
The Ploughshares Fund’s mission is to “build a safe, secure world by developing and investing in initiatives to reduce and ultimately eliminate the world’s nuclear stockpiles,” one that dovetails with President Barack Obama’s arms control efforts. But its behind-the-scenes role advocating for the Iran agreement got more attention this month after a candid profile of Ben Rhodes, one of the president’s top foreign policy aides....
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May 22, 2016 at 7:55 am
Washington - Donald Trump poured more than $7.5 million of his own money into his presidential campaign in April, bringing his total personal investment to more than $43 million since he declared his candidacy, new campaign finance reports filed late Friday show.
The billionaire businessman, who swatted away 16 Republican rivals and relied heavily on wall-to-wall media coverage of his outsized personality and often inflammatory remarks, reported spending about $56 million during the primary, which lasted until his final two rivals, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, dropped out of the race at the beginning of May.
In April alone, Trump spent nearly $9.4 million, according to his monthly filing with the Federal Election Commission. Trump’s largest expense...
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May 22, 2016 at 7:54 am
Orlando, FL - George Zimmerman said he has sold the gun he used to kill unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012 for $250,000, television stations in Orlando and Las Vegas reported on Friday.
Zimmerman could not be reached to verify the reports by KTNV in Las Vegas and WOFL in Orlando.
His offer to sell the Kel-Tec PF9 9mm handgun on UnitedGunGroup.com drew praise from gun rights supporters and scorn from critics who accused him of seeking to profit from the 17-year-old’s death.
Online bidding for the gun ended on Wednesday.
Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the shooting, which sparked heated debates over race relations, gun control and justice in the United States.
In a statement on Twitter after the bidding close...
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May 22, 2016 at 7:53 am
Ambassador hails 'a clear victory for Israeli truth,' as UN folds on censoring Zionist exhibit on Jewish connection to Jerusalem.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon's campaign to lift the ban on an Israeli exhibit has paid off, as after initially blocking the exhibit and later partially allowing it in April, the UN has now folded, allowing it to be shown in its entirety at UN headquarters in New York.
The exhibit, a joint initiative by the Israeli Mission to the UN and pro-Israel non-profit StandWithUs, presents information about Zionism, Jerusalem and Arab Israelis. It notes that "Zionism is the liberation movement of the Jewish people, who sought to overcome 1,900 years of oppression and regain self-determination in thei...
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May 22, 2016 at 7:44 am
In cabinet meeting, Netanyahu says he's still willing to engage in diplomatic process with Palestinians, with help of 'regional actors.'
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu began the weekly government cabinet meeting by defending efforts to expand the coalition, stating that the inclusion of the Yisrael Beytenu party will not impact on the government's diplomatic efforts vis-a-vis the Palestinian Authority.
"From the beginning, when we established the government, I said that my intention was to expand the government," Netanyahu said. "61 [the government's current narrow majority of one - ed.] is better than 59, but a government which is as wide as possible is an important thing for the State of Israel."
Emphasizing that talks were still "underway", th...
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May 22, 2016 at 7:43 am
As Judge Barry Williams prepare to announce a verdict Monday in the trial of Officer Edward Nero, a number of lawyers who have watched the case believe Nero will be acquitted.
All of these lawyers have no connection with any of the cases of the six officers accused in the death of Freddie Gray.
On Maryland's News This Week attorney Warren Alperstein said he believed that the prosecution has not proven its case on any of the four charges against Nero, who participated in the arrest of Gray.
Nero is charged with second degree assault, where the maximum penalty is 10 years in prison, reckless endangerment, which carries a maximum five year sentence, and two counts of misconduct in office. The judge has discretion in imposing the sentence on misconduct.
Defense attorney...
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May 22, 2016 at 12:18 am
Baltimore, Md - May 22, 2016 - As difficult as it is to believe, at times there are Shiva houses in our community that have trouble getting 10 for a minyan. In Baltimore??? Our community is growing by leaps and bounds, bli ayin hara, with more shuls than ever being built. Why should any Shiva minyan have an issue with getting ten?
[A shiva house at 3316 Devonshire Drive has been having a very difficult time getting a minyan. Shacharis Sunday is 7:30 and 7:00 AM until the end of Shiva. Mncha is 8:15 PM. Your help would be greatly appreciated.]
Chaverim of Baltimore isn't just for cars. Chaverim has created an alert system service where one may subscribe by text and receive notifications when a minyan may need a little extra help.
“This new text alert system comes ...
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May 21, 2016 at 11:04 pm
In early 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it was going to consider making a few changes to the nutrition facts label found on just about every food item sitting on grocery store shelves around the nation. And the food industry freaked out.
For more than two decades, the label had gone unchanged, which, for the most part, food manufacturers seemed to like. Specifically, the industry was content that the label did not reveal the amount of “added sugars” in a product — the sugar content not present before the food was produced and packaged — or how much of these added sugars people should consume daily.
But suddenly, these things (as well as others) were being reconsidered. And the industries these changes were likely to affect wer...
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May 21, 2016 at 10:56 pm
President Obama has signed legislation striking outdated racial terms such as “Oriental” and “Negro” from federal laws.
Obama signed the bill without fanfare on Friday along with six other pieces of legislation, the White House said.
The measure sailed through Congress unopposed, a rare example of bipartisan agreement in an election year. It reached the president’s desk after the Senate unanimously approved it on Monday. It passed the House easily in February.
“The term ‘Oriental’ has no place in federal law and at long last this insulting and outdated term will be gone for good,” the author of the bill, Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), said in a statement Friday.
Two sections in the U.S. Code written in the ...
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May 21, 2016 at 10:53 pm
Allies of Donald Trump reportedly laying the groundwork for a visit to Israel backed by Sheldon Adelson.
Conservative and big-money allies of Donald Trump are laying the groundwork for him to visit Israel this summer, an idea backed by Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, The Guardian reported on Saturday.
According to the report, the Jewish-American billionaire recently indicated in a meeting with the candidate that he would provide about $100 million to help Trump win the presidency.
Three conservative sources with strong ties to Adelson told the British newspaper that the multibillionaire has touted the merits of a Trump trip to Israel, and planning has begun, though nothing has been finalized.
“I’m sure Sheldon suggested the trip,” said one conservative d...
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May 21, 2016 at 10:46 pm
Baghdad - A new message purporting to come from the spokesman of Islamic State calls on followers to launch attacks on the United States and Europe during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins in early June.
“Ramadan, the month of conquest and jihad. Get prepared, be ready ... to make it a month of calamity everywhere for the non-believers ... especially for the fighters and supporters of the caliphate in Europe and America,” said the message, suggesting attacks on military and civilian targets.
The authenticity of the audio clip, purporting to be from Abu Muhammad al-Adnani and distributed on Saturday by Twitter accounts that usually publish Islamic State statements, could not be verified.
“The smallest action you do in their heartland is better and...
