The Jewish Week | National News

Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, left, with PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
Young Palestinians Frustrated With Hamas And Fatah
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 | Joshua Mitnick | Israel Correspondent

Tel Aviv — When the rival Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, first signed a reconciliation agreement last May in Cairo, young political activists in Gaza went outside to celebrate.

But after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshal announced on Monday a new agreement in Qatar on the formation of an interim government to prepare the first national elections in years, there was no such public rejoicing.

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President Obama at Yad Vashem in July 2008. A similar image is part of a new video stressing his ties to Israel. getty images
Touting Obama’s Jewish Creds
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 | Stewart Ain | Staff Writer

Boca Raton, Fla. — President Barack Obama discredited the Goldstone Report critical of the way the Israeli military fought a war against Hamas in Gaza in December 2008.

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An Obama campaign worker at the newly opened headquarters in Boca Raton.
Obama’s Florida Supporters
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 | Stewart Ain | Staff Writer

Boca Raton, Fla. — Amid the political drubbing of President Barack Obama in the Republican presidential candidates’ debates and in campaign television commercials here, the local Obama For America campaign headquarters opened in this Broward County city Saturday evening with balloons, pizzas and assorted desserts.

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Mitt Romney, left, and Newt Gingrich at recent debate. getty images
Gingrich ‘Baggage’ Loaded For Florida GOP Jews
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 | Stewart Ain | Staff Writer

Delray Beach, Fla. — In the heart of Jewish South Florida — Boca Raton — on the eve of the crucial Florida primary, Audrey Atlas was channeling Republican voters everywhere.

A former Democrat who admits she has become more conservative in recent years, Atlas, 70, is so fed up with President Barack Obama (“he’s too left wing”) that she switched her party affiliation in December in order to vote in Tuesday’s Republican-only primary.

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Arkansas Federation To Honor President Clinton
Tuesday, January 31, 2012

NEW YORK (JTA) – President Bill Clinton will receive the Tikkun Olam Lifetime Achievement Award of the Jewish Federation of Arkansas.

The federation made the announcement Monday and will bestow the honor at a Feb. 4 ceremony in Little Rock marking its 100th anniversary celebration dinner.

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Arkansas Federation To Honor President Clinton
Tuesday, January 31, 2012

NEW YORK (JTA) – President Bill Clinton will receive the Tikkun Olam Lifetime Achievement Award of the Jewish Federation of Arkansas.

The federation made the announcement Monday and will bestow the honor at a Feb. 4 ceremony in Little Rock marking its 100th anniversary celebration dinner.

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Alleged N.J. Synagogue Attacker Facing New Charges
Monday, January 30, 2012

(JTA) -- The 19-year-old man charged in attacks on two northern New Jersey synagogues allegedly planned to attack another nearby synagogue.

Anthony Graziano of Lodi, N.J., who has pleaded not guilty to the two attacks, allegedly hid Molotov cocktails and a bicycle in the woods near the Jewish Community Center of Paramus with plans for an attack on Jan. 7.

The Bergen County prosecutor on Jan. 27 added charges of aggravated arson and bias intimidation for the planned attack.

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Synagogue Solicits Mel Gibson
Monday, January 30, 2012

(JTA) -- A California synagogue asked movie star Mel Gibson for a donation, suggesting it would remedy his reputation regarding Jews.

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Orthodox Groups Protest Federal Decision On Contraception
Friday, January 27, 2012

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Two Orthodox groups protested the Obama administration’s decision to require some religiously affiliated institutions to cover contraception as part of their employee health plans.

The Orthodox Union on Tuesday and Agudath Israel of America on Wednesday released statements criticizing the Jan. 20 announcement by the secretary of health and human services, Kathleen Sebelius.

Under the Affordable Care Act, employer-provided health insurance plans are required to include contraception and related “preventive” services for employees.

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Obama A Clear And Present Danger?
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 | Uriel Heilman / JTA

When news outlets began reporting last Friday that the owner of the Atlanta Jewish Times had published an opinion column seemingly suggesting that Israel might be wise to assassinate President Barack Obama, condemnations rained from every corner of the organized Jewish community, and by Monday, the publisher announced that he was resigning his position and putting up his newspaper for sale.

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