The Jewish Week | International News

Brazil Remembers Jewish And Afro-Descendant Shoah Victims
Tuesday, January 31, 2012

RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) - Brazil's president attended a Holocaust remembrance ceremony that honored Jewish and Afro-descendant victims.

President Dilma Rousseff and several Jewish and non-Jewish officials attended a Holocaust remembrance ceremony held Jan. 29 in Salvador, Brazil's third largest city.

Read more >>
Austrian Politician Slammed For Comparing Protests To Kristallnacht
Tuesday, January 31, 2012

(JTA) -- The leader of an Austrian far-right political party was condemned for comparing protests by students in Vienna with the Nazi persecution of Jews during Kristallnacht.

The Anti-Defamation League on Monday slammed the comments made Jan. 27 by Austrian Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache in response to heckling from leftist and radical protesters outside the Wiener Korporations-Ball in Vienna.

Read more >>
The Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran. getty images
Iran Bluster On Campaign Trail Distorts Complex Issue
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 | James D. Besser | Special To The Jewish Week

In a presidential race even more devoid of foreign policy debate than usual, Iran and its alleged nuclear quest appear to be the exception. Republican contenders are outdoing each other with hints of military action to prevent the Islamic republic from crossing the nuclear threshold, and President Barack Obama promised in last week’s State of the Union address that “I will take no options off the table” in dealing with Iran.

Read more >>
Panetta: It Would Take Iran One Year To Make Nuclear Bomb
Monday, January 30, 2012

NEW YORK (JTA) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said it would take Iran approximately one year to build a nuclear bomb.

"The consensus is that if they decided to do it, it would probably take them about a year to be able to produce a bomb and then possibly another one to two years in order to put it on a deliverable vehicle of some sort in order to deliver that weapon,” Panetta said in an interview that aired Sunday on the CBS show “60 Minutes.”

Read more >>
Netanyahu, Abbas Pessimistic About Continuing Talks
Monday, January 30, 2012

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- The possibility of continuing peace talks with the Palestinians is "not particularly good," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

We "hope that the Palestinians will stay in the talks in order to reach, in the end, concrete negotiations between us on a peace agreement," Netanyahu said Sunday at the beginning of the weekly Cabinet meeting.

Read more >>
Israel Congratulates Egypt On New Parliament
Friday, January 27, 2012

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel congratulated Egypt on the inauguration of its new parliament, the first in the post-Mubarak era.

"On the occasion of the opening session of the Egyptian parliament, on Jan. 23, Israel extends its congratulations to the people of Egypt for its efforts to achieve freedom, democracy and economic development," Israel's Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement issued Wednesday.

Read more >>
Plans To Publish ‘Mein Kampf’ In Germany Postponed
Thursday, January 26, 2012

(JTA) -- A British publisher has postponed plans to publish segments of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” after threats of legal action.

Peter McGee said Wednesday on the website of his weekly magazine Zeitungszeugen that he would not begin publishing the segments Thursday as planned until the legal issues were ironed out.

McGee earlier this month announced plans to publish three annotated excerpts of the text, which remains under copyright protection in Germany until 2015, 70 years after Hitler’s death.

Read more >>
Survivors’ Group Lauds Germany For Plan To Fight Anti-Semitism
Tuesday, January 24, 2012

(JTA) -- A U.S.-based group of Holocaust survivors is commending Germany on its determination to fight “deep-rooted” anti-Semitism at home.

Read more >>
Survivors’ Group Lauds Germany For Plan To Fight Anti-Semitism
Tuesday, January 24, 2012

(JTA) -- A U.S.-based group of Holocaust survivors is commending Germany on its determination to fight “deep-rooted” anti-Semitism at home.

Read more >>
The Year That Was
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 | JTA and Jewish Week Staff

The following is a review of the news highlights of 2011.

January

Jews worldwide mourn the passing of Debbie Friedman, a popular singer and songwriter who is widely credited with reinvigorating synagogue music and best known for her composition “Mi Shebeirach,” a prayer for healing that is sung in many North American congregations.

Read more >>