International News

Report: Palestinian Forces Harassing Journalists in West Bank, Gaza

04/06/2011

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- The severe harassment of Palestinian journalists by Palestinian Authority and Hamas forces in the West Bank and Gaza has had a chilling effect on freedom of expression, a new report by Human Rights Watch found.

The 35-page report issued Wednesday documents cases in which Palestinian security forces tortured, beat and arbitrarily detained journalists in the West Bank and Gaza, in addition to confiscating their equipment and preventing them from leaving the Palestinian enclaves.

U.N. Human Rights Council: Goldstone Report Stands

04/05/2011

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- The United Nations Human Rights Council said it will continue to use the Goldstone Report as written, despite its author's retraction of a key finding.

Council spokesman Cedric Sapey told the Israeli daily Yediot Achronot on Monday that the Op-Ed written by Richard Goldstone appearing in The Washington Post of April 2 was his personal opinion and not that of the rest of the committee.

Germany Ups Funds To Holocaust Survivors

04/05/2011 | JTA

The German government will increase funds given to Holocaust survivors by 15 percent.

Deal Gives Survivors Increased Home Care

04/05/2011 | Stewart Ain | Staff Writer

The German government has for the first time agreed to a multiyear commitment to fund home care for needy Holocaust survivors, thus assuring survivors and the agencies that care for them that funding will be available as survivor needs peak in 2014, according to Julius Berman, chairman of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

The announcement Tuesday came after a daylong negotiating session Monday at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Lower Manhattan. It was the first time negotiations had taken place outside of Berlin.

World Reform Body Names Rabbi Stephen Fuchs as President

04/04/2011

(JTA) – Rabbi Stephen Fuchs has been named president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.

Esther Pollard Makes Plea to Peres Before His U.S. Trip

04/04/2011

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Jonathan Pollard's wife in a meeting with Shimon Peres before he left for the United States said she asked the Israeli president to request clemency for her husband from President Obama.

Speaking after Sunday's meeting, Esther Pollard called it a "good meeting."

"The president listened to me, and I hope and believe that [what I told him] penetrated his heart," she told The Jerusalem Post.