Thursday, March 30th 2023   |

News

Greece arrests 2 men suspected of planning attacks on Jewish sites in Athens

By GABE FRIEDMAN

(JTA) — Greek authorities arrested two men on Tuesday who were planning mass terrorist attacks on Jewish sites in Athens, including a Chabad outpost and a Jewish restaurant, according to reports.

The Mossad, Israel’s spy agency which contributed to the investigation, told the Associated Press that the men, who are Pakistani nationals, are also part of an Iranian terror network. A third man is wanted for questioning....

A ‘historic’ day in Israel ends with a political compromise — and big questions about the future

By PHILISSA CRAMER

(JTA) — Like hundreds of thousands of her fellow Israelis, Kelly Breakstone Roth’s instinct on Sunday was to take to the streets.

The only wrinkle: She and her family have been in Brooklyn for the last two years, part of the diaspora of hundreds of thousands of Israelis living abroad. They couldn’t just walk out the door of their apartment and join the sweeping nationwide protest that ignited...

Cantor Rebecca Garfein will succeed Cantor Joel Colman at Temple Sinai

Cantor Rebecca Garfein will  succeed Cantor Joel Colman as only the second cantor at Temple Sinai. Colman will be retiring after 24 years of service this summer.

A mezzo-soprano, Garfein is a native of Tallahassee, Florida, where her father was a rabbi. She graduated cum laude from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston with a degree in vocal performance and opera. In 1993, she received her master’s degree in...

Israeli tensions spill over into Berlin at summit of European Jewish leaders

By DAVID I. KLEIN and TOBY AXELROD

BERLIN (JTA) — Novelist Ruby Namdar’s appearance at a major conference of European Jewish leaders wasn’t meant to include a speech to an empty chair. But there he was on Sunday night, addressing the chair he had thought would hold Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister for Diaspora affairs.

Chikli had been scheduled to address the summit, organized by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee...

US ambassador: Biden will host Netanyahu after Passover, but no date set yet

By RON KAMPEAS

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Less than a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paused his push to enact a far-reaching judicial overhaul, the U.S. ambassador to Israel said President Joe Biden would likely host Netanyahu in Washington after the Passover holiday, according to Israel’s Army Radio.

In a tweet Tuesday morning, Army Radio quoted Ambassador Tom Nides as saying that an invitation would reach Netanyahu “relatively soon, I...

Protests and strike rock Israel as future of Netanyahu’s judicial reforms falls into doubt

By BEN SALES

(JTA) — Israel was filled with surreal images Sunday night as thousands of people lit bonfires and gathered to protest in the streets against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his planned judicial overhaul.

On Monday morning, those dramatic scenes were replaced by another: of packed trains and crowded roads as protesters convened on Jerusalem in an effort to sustain pressure on Netanyahu as his governing coalition appeared...

Deepening crisis: Netanyahu expected to freeze judicial reforms after massive civil disobedience

– Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to deliver a speech on Monday after Israelis took to the streets en masse Sunday night to protest his firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Netanyahu was set to address the country at 10 a.m. but delayed the speech amid reports that several members of his coalition are threatening to bring down the government unless the judicial reform effort continues apace.

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Calling Netanyahu’s latest move ‘dangerous,’ Israel’s top diplomat in New York resigns

By RON KAMPEAS

(JTA) — Asaf Zamir, Israel’s consul general to New York, resigned within hours of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu firing his defense minister, the latest salvo in the political crisis besetting Israel over Netanyahu’s planned radical changes to the judiciary.

“The past 18 months as Israel’s Consul General in New York were fulfilling and rewarding, but following today’s developments, it is now time for me to join...

Netanyahu fires defense minister who called for a stop to Israel’s judiciary reforms

By RON KAMPEAS

(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, exactly a day after Gallant called for a stop to far-reaching reforms to the judiciary that have divided the country and that the defense minister said posed security risks to Israel.

The dramatic move could accelerate a crisis that Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, who has also called for a stop to the legislation, has...

Israel’s defense minister calls to ‘stop the legislative process now’ on Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul the courts

By RON KAMPEAS

(JTA) — Israel’s defense minister called for a pause on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul the country’s court system,  dealing a potentially debilitating blow to proposals that have brought hundreds of thousands of Israeli protesters into the streets and have drawn international criticism, including from President Joe Biden and other world leaders.

Yoav Gallant, in a dramatic, 6-minute televised address Saturday night as protesters once...