Wednesday, May 1st 2024 |
NEW YORK (JTA) — Oracle’s Larry Ellison is the world’s richest Jew, according to Forbes magazine’s annual world billionaires list for 2013. Ellison was among five Jews in the top 25 on the list released Monday. Seventeen Israelis were among the record 1,426 billionaires — 200 more than in 2012.
Ellison was No. 5 overall with a net worth of $43 billion. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was No. 13...
(JTA) — Empire Kosher shut down production of kosher chickens for one day, leading to fears of a shortage for Passover.
The plant in Mifflintown, Pa., was scheduled to resume production on Monday after closing down on Feb. 28, Haaretz reported. Empire, which has a regular production schedule of Monday to Thursday, is the largest kosher poultry producer in the United States.
Company spokesperson Elie Rosenfeld told Haaretz that the...
(JTA) — The Holocaust museum in Macedonia was damaged in a surge of violence that erupted in the country’s capital. Protesters over the weekend damaged the Holocaust Memorial Center for the Jews of Macedonia in Skopje and the glass area of the Macedonian Museum of History, and broke several windows of a new theater under construction, according to Sitel.com.mk, a news website.
The hostilities broke out March 2 when police...
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The first Hebrew-language edition of Playboy magazine was launched in Tel Aviv. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner offered a recorded message at Tuesday’s launching, The Jerusalem Post reported.
“I’m proud to see Playboy Israel embark on its mission to play an important role in strengthening freedom of speech, freedom of choice and freedom of the press,” Hefner said in the message, according to the Post.
The magazine will...
JERUSALEM (JTA) — More than 103,000 people have signed a petition calling on President Obama to free imprisoned spy for Israel Jonathan Pollard.
The petition, which appears in Hebrew and English, was placed online Feb. 11 and will be hand delivered to Obama during his visit to Israel later this month, according to the Justice for Jonathan Pollard organization.
The organization is aiming for 150,000 signatures before Obama arrives in...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A Republican and a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation that would make Israel a “major strategic ally,” a unique designation.
The bill, introduced Monday by Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Ted Deutch (D-FL), was timed for the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference, and 13,000 activists are expected to lobby on Tuesday for the measure and Iran-related bills.
The “major strategic...
NEW YORK (JTA) — Hugo Chavez, the longtime president of Venezuela who spouted anti-Israel rhetoric and befriended Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, died yesterday, March 5.
Chavez, who ruled the South American country for 14 years, died Tuesday following a long battle with cancer, Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro said in a televised speech. Chavez was 58.
An anti-capitalist, Chavez was first elected in 1999, rising to power with the massive...
(JTA) — Rabbi Menachem Froman, founder of the Modern Orthodox West Bank settlers movement Gush Emunim, has died.
Froman, the chief rabbi of southern Jerusalem’s Tekoa community, died Monday following a battle with cancer. He was 68.
Froman was unique in the West Bank for facilitating peace initiatives with Palestinian leaders, including members of Hamas, despite being a supporter of the settlement movement. Froman visited vandalized mosques in the West...
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to ask President Obama to grant clemency to Jonathan Pollard while Obama was in Israel.
Netanyahu met Monday with Pollard’s wife, Esther, in advance of Obama’s visit scheduled for later this month.
“The time has long since come for Jonathan to go free,” Netanyahu said, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office. “This issue will come up during...
SYDNEY (JTA) – Australian Jewry’s gay community celebrated its “bar mitzvah” at the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras.
About 80 members of Dayenu, Sydney’s Jewish GLBT group, wore rainbow-colored prayer shawls and pink kipahs as they danced around a giant pink Star of David emblazoned with the words “Mazel tov” on Saturday in front of hundreds of thousands of supporters.
The Jewish float at the annual gay festival has...
