Breaking News

Israel Grapples With Fallout of Flotilla Violence

05/31/2010 | Marcy Oster | JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- With nations around the world condemning Israel for the deaths of nine people aboard a Gaza-bound ship, israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a planned visit to the White House.

Netanyahu was scheduled to meet Tuesday with President Obama following a weekend visit to Canada, which included a working meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The visit would have been Netanyahu's first meeting with Obama since a late March meeting at the White House in which the administration was accused of snubbing the Israeli leader.

Gaza Flotilla Deaths Spur Concerns, Condemnation

05/31/2010

(JTA) -- The Vatican expressed "pain" and "great concern" at the deaths of activists on a convoy bringing aid to Gaza, while French leaders criticized the Israeli Navy's use of force in turning back the flotilla.

Chief Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Monday that the raid by Israeli Navy commandos, in which dozens of protesters were killed or injured, was "a very painful thing, in particular for the useless loss of human lives."

U.S. Wants ‘Full and Credible’ Israeli Inquiry Into Flotilla Clash

05/31/2010

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The Obama administration wants Israel to conduct a "full and credible" investigation into a clash that left nine people dead when Israel commandoes boarded a flotilla shipping aid to the Gaza Strip.

New Zealand Bans Shechita

05/28/2010 | Dan Goldberg | JTA

SYDNEY (JTA) – New Zealand has banned shechita, the kosher slaughter of animals.

The country’s new animal welfare code, which took effect Friday, mandates that all animals for commercial consumption be stunned prior to slaughter to ensure they are treated “humanely and in accordance with good practice and scientific knowledge.”

The regulation has shocked the Jewish community.

For Manning-Kaplan Duo, Jewish Nonprofits are the Ties That Bind

05/28/2010 | Jacob Berkman | JTA

PALM BEACH, Fla. (JTA) -- It’s a cool spring night, and Kathy Manning and Randall Kaplan are battling their way out of the west lawn of the sprawling bay-side mansion of Jane Goldman and Benjamin Lewis.

Manning, the chairwoman of the Jewish Federations of North America, and Kaplan, the chairman of the board of governors of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, have just spent a few hours schmoozing with 80 donors, a handful of boards of trustees and several members of Hillel’s board trying to make the case for their organizations.