On stage: Madonna and child
Madonna’s son Rocco, who she had with her ex-husband Guy Ritchie, joined her on stage during her final concert in Tel Aviv last night.
New Shalit appeal
The Zionist Federation has launched a Rosh Hashanah appeal for captured soldier Gilad Shalit.
The organisation will send New Year greeting cards from the public to the International Red Cross and ask them to help pass the messages to Gilad and his parents.
BNP security man fined over web leak
The former deputy head of security at the BNP has been fined £200 after he admitted leaking personal details of more than 10,000 members online.
Matthew Single, 37, formerly of Brinsley, Nottinghamshire, was fined by Nottingham magistrates after admitting a charge of disclosing data without consent.
Teacher charged with sex assault
A teacher has appeared in court charged with sexually assaulting two children.
Michael Gordon, 55, a member of Pinner and Northwood Liberal Synagogue, faces 11 charges of sexually assaulting a boy under the age of 13 by touching, and three charges of sexually assaulting a boy aged 13.
He appeared at City of London Magistrates’ Court on August 25 and was bailed. He did not enter a plea.
It is alleged that the offences took place between September 1, 2007, and April 9 this year.
Mr Gordon, of Thrush Green, Harrow, will appear at Southwark Crown Court on September 22.
Rail evacuees retrace their Shoah escape
Dozens of Holocaust survivors this week retraced the journey that saved their lives 70 years ago.
They travelled by train from the Czech Republic to London, remembering the efforts of Sir Nicholas Winton, who in 1939 arranged eight Kindertransport trains, saving 669 Czech children.
Among the 170 people who left Prague’s main station on Tuesday morning were 22 of “Winton’s children” and 64 descendants of those saved by him. He was knighted for his rescue mission.
Michael Howard on interfaith group's board
The former Conservative leader Michael Howard and the Labour MP Frank Field, a former minister, have been appointed as part of a “reinvigoration” of the trustees board at the Council of Christians and Jews (CCJ).
The new appointments are part of an attempt to bring in influential characters who can increase the impact and reach of the CCJ, which aims to promote religious and cultural understanding between the two faiths.
Brit milah inquest opens
An inquest will open next week into the death of a baby who stopped breathing after his circumcision.
Hornsey Coroners’ Court will hear testimony from an extensive list of witnesses who will give evidence about the death of Amitai Moshe.
The baby died on February 9 2007, eight days after his brit milah took place at Golders Green Synagogue.
He was taken by the strictly-Orthodox volunteer ambulance service, Hatzola, to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead but then transferred to University College Hospital, where he died.
Police caution man over street hate rant
A Filipino man has been cautioned by police after shouting antisemitic abuse at a Jewish passerby in a random attack.
The incident happened as the victim was walking to his car in Bell Lane, Hendon, north west London, at around 10pm on Saturday night.
He was approached by a 42-year-old drunk man who shouted antisemitic insults at him before entering a house.
The 29-year-old victim called the police, who searched the property and found the man hiding on the roof.
Officers talked him down, arrested him, and seized three cannabis plants.
Bevis Marks Rabbi row deepens
The dispute over the suspended rabbi of Bevis Marks Synagogue in London deepened this week after fresh attacks by his supporters on the handling of his suspension by Sephardi leaders.
Rabbi Natan Asmoucha was suspended six weeks ago by the mahamad (executive) of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews’ Congregation over his involvement in an interfaith rally against high bank interest rates in July.
But now supporters are furious at the proposed postponement of a special meeting of the congregation, called to put a vote of no confidence in the executive.
Fire-fighters call for TUC Israel boycott
The Trades Union Congress has come under international pressure over a motion to its annual conference calling on it to review its links with Histadrut, its Israeli counterpart.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has tabled a resolution for the conference, to be held in two weeks’ time, which also calls for a ban on the importation of all goods from “illegal settlements”, the ending of all arms trading with Israel, a boycott of Israeli goods and divestment from companies “associated with the occupation”.
Irish NGO forced to cut back
An influential Dublin-based NGO which opposes settlements in Israel is cutting back its West Bank activity due to a lack of donations.
Trócaire will be forced to pull out of nine countries over the next 18 months and cut back its work in 27 other countries.
The Catholic aid agency has been operating in Israel and the Palestinian occupied territories since 2002 and spent approximately €500,000 (£441,500) there in the last financial year.
Who will teach Israel’s Ethiopians?
The plight of 102 Ethiopian-born children in the town of Petach Tikva who do not have a school place has raised serious questions about the Israeli education system.
At the centre of the argument is the refusal of three private religious schools to accept about 50 of these children into their normal classes.
The Education Ministry, the media and even President Shimon Peres have all come down hard on these three schools, accusing them of racism.
Netanyahu uses British tactics to fight crime wave
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has come out with a five-point plan for dealing with the rise in crime in Israel, based upon British and American experience.
Mr Netanyahu published his plan following a wave of crime in which 14 Israelis have been murdered in less than a month.
In a special radio interview, Mr Netanyahu termed the violence “inner terrorism” and said, “if missiles are fired at us, we respond fiercely immediately. In the same way I am not prepared to accept any kind of terrorism against Israeli citizens.”
Corruption storm peaks in Israel
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was charged on Sunday with serious fraud, breach of trust, falsifying corporate records, receiving illicit benefits and tax evasion.
Meanwhile former Shas minister Shlomo Benizri this week began a four-year jail sentence for bribery; former finance minister Avraham Hirchson began a five-year jail sentence for embezzlement of funds; and former President Moshe Katsav’s trial for rape opened.
'For the POWs who return, captivity is never ending'
Israel is experienced in treating its prisoners of war when they return home, but may still find it hard to help Gilad Shalit adjust to freedom.
“We don’t have experience of quite these conditions that Gilad Shalit is going through,” explains Dr David Senesh, a clinical psychologist who was a POW for 40 days in Egypt following the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
Gilad Shalit hopes 'exaggerated'
Israeli leaders are playing down reports of a breakthrough in the talks over captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
Meanwhile, the few details coming out from the talks in Cairo indicate that a breakthrough could be close.
Peacenik's fear over Israel
One of Israel’s leading peace activists has denied that he and others in the peace movement, who have criticised Israel openly, had contributed to the atmosphere in which it was being demonised as an apartheid state.
On stage: Madonna and child
Madonna’s son Rocco, who she had with her ex-husband Guy Ritchie, joined her on stage during her final concert in Tel Aviv last night.
He took the stage at the Hayarkon Park venue for the last night of her Sticky & Sweet tour. The nine-year-old danced and sang along with his mother on three tracks.
On Tuesday night Madonna brought out her daughter Lourdes, 12, who danced and played the piano on stage.
Madonna Israel concert delights fans
Madonna made her return to the stage in Israel last night after a 16-year absence and told a crowd of 50,000: “Israel is the energy centre of the world.”
The concert, at Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv, was the first of two to mark the end of her Sticky & Sweet tour. The second is this evening at the same venue.
She took the stage half an hour late and delighted fans when she grabbed an Israeli flag from the crowd and draped herself in it for her final song.
Law student held over assassination plot
Rawi Sultani, 23, passed on information about Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazy's movements. His arrest is probably the nipping in the bud of Hizbullah's plan to assassinate Israel's most senior soldier. It also serves as a reminder of the Lebanese organisation's true motives.
Last week, the IDF released surveillance footage of Lebanese citizens repelling Hizbollah members from their village near the border with Israel. Their intention had been to rebuild fortified positions and replenish arm caches that had been used to shell the Galilee during the Second Lebanese War.
Aviva Shalit: forgive us, my son
A senior Hamas official looks set to fly to Cairo shortly to approve a deal that includes the release of Gilad Shalit.
And the mother of the IDF soldier captured in June 2006, made a heartfelt plea for action with an apology to her son for “not being able to protect you”.
The trip by Hamas Politburo chief Khaled Meshal will follow efforts by German intelligence who have sent an official to Cairo to help mediate.
Schools struggle to stay open in US
Ray Levi, head of the Heilicher Minneapolis Jewish Day School, has had to increase aid for struggling parents, freeze teachers’ pay, reduce benefits and cut support staff.
So it is perhaps a sign of how fragility has become a fact of life for American Jewish day schools that Mr Levi is upbeat. “Despite all the problems we face, I think there is a lot of promise for day schools in America,” he says.
Enrolment remains high and his primary school has strong communal support. But others are not so fortunate.
This shul may become a music hall
A strictly Orthodox rabbi has started a campaign to stop part of a historic synagogue in Transylvania being turned into a concert hall. However, the owners of the Great Synagogue of Dej say that no such plans exist.
Rabbi Eliahu Caufman alleges that part of the women’s section in the shul, which was built in 1865, will be transformed by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.
Vilnius cemetery is saved
A long-running international row over the future of a 700-year-old cemetery in Lithuania has been settled.
The disused Snipiskes cemetery in Vilnius was found when developers began setting the foundations of an office block in 2007 and uncovered the remains of graves.
Protests were lodged by the London-based Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe (CPJCE), the American and British ambassadors in Vilnius and the Board of Deputies, who demanded that building stop until the exact boundaries of the cemetery were determined.
French anti-Muslim backlash hurts Jews
The backlash against Muslims in France demanding religious rights in the public sphere has also hit Jews, who feel that their own, similar requests are being treated increasingly negatively.
“Things have got worse since more and more Muslims started pushing demands, sometimes with political motives. Now we’re compared to assertive pushy militants and our own requests are denied outright,” said Marc Djebali, vice president of the Jewish community of Sarcelles, a suburb north of Paris. “Now officials tell me: ‘we can’t accept this, this is a secular state’.”
Google now translates Yiddish
Do you find yourself sitting in front of the computer desperately trying to remember whether you mean khaver or khazer in the email you are sending your bubbeh?
Well, platz no more. Google has launched a tool which translates English words and phrases into Yiddish, and vice versa, in seconds, eliminating unfortunate misunderstandings and leaving you ongeshtopt with new phrases.
The service — found at translate.google.com — also changes full web pages into Yiddish, meaning you can catch the latest news from the JC in language more traditionally spoken the shtetl than Stanmore.
Nazis used man in women's Olympics
A new film reveals how the Nazis replaced a female Jewish athlete with a man in drag during the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
The feature film Berlin 36, which opens in Germany next week, tells the story of star high-jumper Gretel Bergmann. Ms Bergmann was banned from competing in the Olympics to shield Hitler from the embarrassment of a Jewish athlete winning.
Bergmann’s replacement was her roommate Horst Ratjen, who posed as “Dora”. He kept his gender secret from his teammates by shaving his legs several times a day and showering alone.
South Africa calls for expat Jews to return
A call by new South African president Jacob Zuma for expatriate Jews to return home has received a lukewarm response in the UK.
President Zuma made his plea to an 800-strong audience at the national conference of the South African Board of Deputies in Johannesburg on Saturday night.
“This country has a massive skills shortage as a result of decades of neglect and deliberate under-investment,” he said. “This problem is exacerbated by the emigration of skilled people. We must reverse the trend.
Shul security and the rabbis with guns
They call themselves The International Security Coalition of Clergy.
But you can think of them as The God Squad — armed rabbis and priests ready to leap from the bimah, or the pulpit, to tackle and kill terrorists.
The coalition is led by Rabbi Gary Moscowitz, 52, a fast-talking martial arts instructor and former New York police officer, who says he can transform the average synagoguegoer into a fighting machine, trained in unarmed combat and weapons.
“Jews are not like Christians,” he says. “If we turn our cheek, we are spinning around to make a kick.”
Colonel Gaddafi? He ruined my fence
Nothing can stop Colonel Gaddafi from visiting New York in a couple of weeks’ time to address the United Nations General Assembly.
But the Libyan leader is having one heck of a time trying to find somewhere to stay.
Mr Gaddafi often travels with an air-conditioned tent on foreign trips. His first reported request, to camp in Central Park, was turned down. Now, an apparent attempt to stay in the garden of a mansion owned by the Libyan government, in Englewood, New Jersey, has also been blocked.
Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman heads to Africa
Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman leaves on a diplomatic mission to Africa today, as he looks to take Israeli foreign policy in a new direction.
The trip marks the first time that an Israeli foreign minister has visited sub-Saharan Africa in more than 20 years.
Mr Lieberman and a delegation of 20 Israeli businesspeople will visit Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Ghana during the week-long trip.
Africa has a strong presence in international forums, such as the UN, where it tends to exhibit pro-Arab sentiment.
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