PARIS, April 27 (JTA) — French Jews may have been hoping that the election of the first council to represent France’s 5 million-strong Muslim community would act as a moderating influence on its members. They received a rude awakening earlier this month. Representatives from more than 900 mosques across France who cast their ballots for […]

A unique program launched this week at the IDF School of Military Justice in Tzrifin has brought smiles to the faces of a group of very special soldiers. Students from the “Mesilot” school in Bat Yam who suffer from developmental disabilities were drafted, appeared in uniform for the first time and were welcomed into the […]

After having appointed his Fatah crony Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) as the putative prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, PLO chief Yasser Arafat is on the verge of blocking his own appointee’s progress. In fact, reports from within the PA indicate that Arafat is seeking an alternative to Abu Mazen, the result of serious disagreements […]

Israel has presented to the Bush Administration a series of gestures it is willing to make on behalf of Abu Mazen and his new PA government. The gestures include a meeting between Prime Minister Sharon and Abu Mazen soon after Abu Mazen presents his new roster of ministers, and a gradual IDF withdrawal from some […]

At post offices around the country, members of the national group SUSTAIN — Stop U.S. Tax-funded Aid to Israel Now — circulated mock tax forms itemizing American financial support of Israel. To get attention, activists hawking the handouts shouted, “Budget breakdown!” outside New York’s central post office. The mock 1040 form was intended to personalize […]

NEW YORK, April 8 (JTA) — As a young boy, Mark Evnin insisted on wearing a yarmulke to the Boy Scouts and later talked of enlisting in the Israel Defense Force. Now, even without his body, the family of the first known Jewish casualty of the war on Iraq is sitting shiva, the Jewish mourning […]

Culinary snobs tend to snicker at kosher cookbooks. Despite some of the fabulous new kosher wines, chefs and restaurants that hold their own with the best, the perception persists that kosher means second-class. Until now. Kosher By Design: Picture-perfect Food for the Holidays and Every Day published by ArtScroll/Shaar Press (CLICK ON LINK TO PURCHASE) […]

Foreign reports state that Israel transferred to the United States, shortly before the current war in Iraq, giant bulletproof D-9 bulldozers. The IDF uses them in its counter-terrorism war in Judea, Samaria and Gaza in missions such as plowing roadblocking-ditches and clearing paths for tanks. It appears that the Americans will use them in the […]

Several projects and events are to take place in the United States in the coming weeks. Here, we highlight three of them. On Sunday, April 6, 2003, the 52nd Annual Israel Folk Dance Festival and Festival of the Arts will be held at the Martin Luther King, Jr., High School in New York City. The […]

THE BUSH PLAN: On June 24, 2002, President Bush set forth the conditions that the Palestinian Arabs must fulfill in order to merit U.S. support for the creation of a Palestinian Arab state. Among the major obligations are that the Palestinian Arabs must “dismantle the terrorist infrastructure,” “end incitement,” “elect new leaders not compromised by […]