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arab

Why Jews should care about the rights of Israeli Arabs

About a year and half ago, I participated in a fact-finding mission to Israel sponsored by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Israeli Arabs (IATF). Established in 2006 as a consortium of some of the major organizations in American Jewish life — including the Joint Distribution Committee, the Conference of Presidents, Jewish Federations of North America, the ADL and the American Jewish Committee — the IATF is committed to raising awareness of the circumstances of the 20 percent of Israel’s citizens who are Arab.

Safed rabbi refuses police summons over anti-Arab letter

The Chief Rabbi of Safed, Shmuel Eliyahu, said he would refuse to respond to a police summons for questioning on suspicion of incitement to racism. Eliyahu reportedly did not present himself to Jerusalem police on Sunday, as ordered, over a letter signed by nearly 50 municipal rabbis calling on the Jewish public not to rent or sell homes to non-Jews, specifically Arabs. The official reason given for not answering the summons was time restrictions, the Jerusalem Post reported. But Eliyahu reportedly said, according to the Jerusalem Post that he “asked whether David Grossman, Yossi Sarid and Shulamit Aloni, who demonstrated against Jewish presence in the Shimon Hatzadik (Sheikh Jarrah) neighborhood, were also summoned for questioning. Were there summonses for the heads of the Jewish National Fund, whose constitution prohibits selling apartments to non- Jews? If not, double standards are being applied here, and I don’t intend on playing into the hands of a legal system that acts in a non-egalitarian manner.”

Israel’s legal establishment to examine rabbis’ letter forbidding rental of homes to Arabs

The attorney general\’s office stated on Thursday that it would look into possible criminal aspects of a religious ruling to forbid renting homes to gentiles signed by a number of leading rabbis. Dozens of Israel\’s municipal chief rabbis signed on to the letter, which came just months after the chief rabbi of Safed initiated a call urging Jews to refrain from renting or selling apartments to non-Jews. In an official response to a petition submitted by Meretz MK Ilan Ghilon against the signatories of the rabbis\’ letter, an assistant of attorney general Yehuda Weinstein said that Weinstein would order the examination of possible criminal and disciplinary aspects of the rabbis\’ letter.

Roger Cohen’s Dialogue with the Iran Jewish Community

There was no clean knockout when New York Times columnist Roger Cohen faced off against some 400 members of the local Iranian Jewish and Bahai communities last week, but spectators were treated to some vigorous rhetorical sparring and nimble footwork.

In Tunisia, Jews enjoy stability, but not democracy

In many ways Tunisia is unique in the Arab world. Tunisia\’s president promotes education and protects Tunisian Jews from the chaos and religious extremism enveloping much of North Africa. Tunisia has also played a very constructive and positive role in the Middle East peace process. However, stability in Tunisia — for its Jews and for the country as a whole — has come at the expense of democratic rights.

Al Qaeda urges Israel attacks; Israeli Arab lawmakers represent Hamas in court

Al Qaeda urges Israel attacks; Israeli Arab lawmakers represent Hamas in court; Conviction in Attack on Palestinians; BBC Ordered to Release Report; British Jews Meet on Security; Trump to Observant Jew: You\’re Hired; Babi Yar Event to be International; Danish Newspaper Publishes Holocaust Cartoons.\n\n\n\n\n

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Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.