Washington

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- An array of Jewish groups expressed their dismay at the passage of Arizona's restrictive new immigration enforcement law.

"The Jewish community has long called on our national leaders to reform our immigration laws to 'welcome the stranger' and to create an effective federal immigration system characterized by the rule of law and the humane treatment of newcomers," the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society said in a statement after Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed the law Friday afternoon.

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Dismayed by or indifferent to the Obama administration's about-face embrace of off-shore drilling, Jewish groups are now focused on the bigger picture: an end to dependence on foreign oil and the development of cleaner energy sources.

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Activists for the Zionist Organization of America lobbied Congress to consider military action against Iran.

In more than 100 meetings with members of Congress on Wednesday, the ZOA said hundreds of its activists also asked the lawmakers to defund the Palestinian Authority, press the U.S. embassy issue and enshrine anti-Jewish discrimination safeguards in education legislation.

Thirty lawmakers addressed the group's luncheon, the ZOA said.

In the aftermath of the foiled terror plot against two synagogues in Riverdale, local political and Jewish leaders are asking the federal government to increase security funding to urban nonprofit organizations they say are most at risk.
 

The Urban Areas Security Initiative Nonprofit Security Grant Program – a Department of Homeland Security initiative that originated in 2005 drastically reduced the total amount of such grants in 2007 from just over $24 million nationwide to $15 million .
 

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected an Obama administration call for a total construction freeze in eastern Jerusalem, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The rejection was conveyed last weekend by Israeli officials to White House officials, the newspaper reported in an article published Thursday.

The Prime Minister's Office on Thursday confirmed the Wall Street Journal report, which was based on Washington diplomatic sources, Israeli media reported.

As the strain in U.S.-Israel relations continues, some area rabbis who generally don’t mix religion and politics on the pulpit are setting aside those constraints.

“People were asking me and my hand was sort of forced,” said Rabbi Perry Rank, spiritual leader of the Midway Jewish Center, a Conservative synagogue in Syosset, L.I. “My sense is that Mr. [Barack] Obama has unnerved the American Jewish community and people are looking for a perspective on the issue.

 (JTA) – The Obama administration “condemned in the strongest terms” Syria’s alleged transfer of arms to Hezbollah and suggested that Syria’s actions would affect renewed bilateral relations.

The administration summoned Syria’s top envoy to discuss the transfers, a sign that it has evidence contradicting Syria’s persistent denials.