JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

JTA, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, is the definitive source for American Jewish community news and opinion.

Toronto native Alex Iscoe, left, unfurls a UJA banner atop Mount Vinson
Massif in Antarctica in January, the highest peak on the continent.

Climber scaling Everest to raise money for Ethiopian olim

Toronto native Alex Iscoe, left, unfurls a UJA banner atop Mount Vinson Massif in Antarctica in January, the highest peak on the continent. (Alex Iscoe) Read more »

Pope’s visit to Israel fraught with potential minefields

Pope Benedict's upcoming visit to Israel, which comes at a time of some strain in Vatican-Jewish relations, inevitably will invite comparison -- and contrast -- with the visit to Israel by his predecessor, John Paul II. Read more »

Top Stories

Richard Pratt, eclectic Australian billionaire and philanthropist, dies at 74

Richard Pratt, who fled Poland as a child on the eve of Holocaust and went on to become one of Australia’s richest men and biggest Jewish philanthropists, died Tuesday at age 74. Read more »

With Specter’s switch, Senate loses GOP Jewish voice

For the first time in decades, a moderate GOP Jewish voice -- embodied over the years not only by Specter but also Rudy Boschwitz of Minnesota, Warren Rudman of New Hampshire and the late Jacob Javits of New York -- will be absent from the Senate. Read more »

AIPAC policy conference to push Iran bills

Just in time for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee annual policy forum next week, U.S. Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) introduce a major new Iran sanctions bill. Read more »

The Jewish conspiracy against Durban II (No, seriously)

It’s no secret who was behind the effort to discredit the 2009 Durban Review Conference in Geneva. So why were some U.N. officials wary of saying so? Read more »

Blogs

The Fundermentalist

GUEST SIDEKICK: Why the L.A. federation tapped a Mexican poster artist

Can a Mexican poster artist living in East L.A., whose family owns panaderias (Mexican bakeries) and… Read Blog »

Capital J

Brit Tzedek, J Street, IPF, APN back unity gov stance (UPDATED WITH IPF and APN)

Four left-wing Jewish groups are urging their supporters to get behind the Obama administration’s… Read Blog »

The Telegraph

American (Jewish) Idol

L.A. Jewish Journal blogger Danielle Berrin weighs in on American Idol’s Jewish sensation, Adam… Read Blog »

Photos and Videos

Gilboa Deputy Mayor Eid Saleem, center, flanked on the left by Jenin Gov. Qadoura Qadoura and by Gilboa Mayor Daniel Atar, makes a point at news conference in New York on Aug. 31, 2009 during a U.S. tour pushing their coexistence project. (Eric Albert) Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, right, director of the Israel Advocacy Office of the Rabbinical Assembly, hanging a mezuzah in the office of Israel's U.S. ambassador, Michael Oren, in Washington on Aug. 18, 2009. (Congregation B’nai Tzedek) Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky speaks on the first day of school at the Lipman Jewish Day School in Moscow on Sept. 1, 2009. (Jewish Agency) Grover mulls his selections at the open-air market Machane Yehuda with the help of an Israeli girl during the filming of "Shalom Sesame" in Jerusalem on Aug. 28, 2009. (Koby Gideon / Flash 90 / JTA) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet in Berlin, Aug. 29, 2009. (German Federal Press Office) Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League honors tennis star Venus Williams on Aug. 26, 2009 for criticizing Dubai official for blocking an Israeli player from competing in a tournament there. (ADL) Sen. Edward Kennedy meets with Lubavitch officials at an event in 1987 celebrating the 85th birthday of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson. (Chabad.org) Sen. Edward Kennedy, right, who died Aug. 25 at age 77, receives an award in 1979 for his efforts on behalf of Soviet Jewry from Burton Levinson of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry. (NCSJ) One of about 700 new Yeshiva University students moves into her dorm at the university's Beren Campus, Aug. 23, 2009. (Yeshiva University) At the start of a trip to Europe, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London, Aug. 25, 2009. (Amos Ben Gershom / GPO / FLASH90 / JTA)

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  • Gilboa Deputy Mayor Eid Saleem, center, flanked on the left by Jenin Gov. Qadoura Qadoura and by Gilboa Mayor Daniel Atar, makes a point at news conference in New York on Aug. 31, 2009 during a U.S. tour pushing their coexistence project.
  • Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, right, director of the Israel Advocacy Office of the Rabbinical Assembly, hanging a mezuzah in the office of Israel's U.S. ambassador, Michael Oren, in Washington on Aug. 18, 2009.
  • Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky speaks on the first day of school at the Lipman Jewish Day School in Moscow on Sept. 1, 2009.
  • Grover mulls his selections at the open-air market Machane Yehuda with the help of an Israeli girl during the filming of "Shalom Sesame" in Jerusalem on Aug. 28, 2009.
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet in Berlin, Aug. 29, 2009.
  • Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League honors tennis star Venus Williams on Aug. 26, 2009 for criticizing Dubai official for blocking an Israeli player from competing in a tournament there.
  • Sen. Edward Kennedy meets with Lubavitch officials at an event in 1987 celebrating the 85th birthday of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
  • Sen. Edward Kennedy, right, who died Aug. 25 at age 77, receives an award in 1979 for his efforts on behalf of Soviet Jewry from Burton Levinson of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry.
  • One of about 700 new Yeshiva University students moves into her dorm at the university's Beren Campus, Aug. 23, 2009.
  • At the start of a trip to Europe, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London, Aug. 25, 2009.
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Updated 11/07/09 @ 10:12PM EDT

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