Syria\’s government orchestrated the infiltration of Israel\’s northern border by hundreds of Palestinians, a British newspaper reported. Michael Weiss, blogging on the Daily Telegraph website, reported that he had been forwarded \”what appear to be Syrian state documents\” leaked by the governor of al-Qunaitera, in southwest Syria.
An Israeli man has asked to officially change his name to that of several British monarchs.
A British lawmaker has apologized for insulting a fellow Jewish lawmaker and Labor Party member during a debate in the House of Commons. During a debate Wednesday on plans to change the law of universal jurisdiction, Gerald Kaufman turned to a lawmaker sitting next to him and said, \”Here we are, the Jews again,\” as pro-Israel lawmaker Louise Ellman rose to refute a claim by the Labor Party\’s Ann Clwyd that the lawmakers were trying to change the law — making it more difficult to issue an arrest warrant against a suspected international war criminal — to appease the Israeli government.
Complaints against an advertisement for travel to Palestine were upheld by the British Advertising Standards Authority. The authority in a ruling released Wednesday said that the Travel Palestine ad should not be published again as it is currently constituted.
Israel has tapped British Ambassador Ron Prosor to be its envoy to the United Nations. The nomination, which was made public Sunday, comes after Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan decided last week to turn down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\’s offer to serve as U.N. ambassador. Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky reportedly also turned down the post.
Every July 23 for the past 58 years, Egypt, my country of birth, has celebrated its “July revolution” that overthrew King Farouk and ended the monarchy and British occupation once and for all. It was no revolution: It was a coup staged by young army officers. And so it has been with a series of “revolutions” around the Arab world in which a succession of military men went on to lead us in civilian clothes — some kept the olive drabs on — and rob generations of the real meaning of revolution. For years I looked at the Iranians with envy — not at the outcome of their 1979 revolution, but because it was a popular uprising, not a euphemism for a coup.
Two eastern Jerusalem residents employed by the British Consulate have been charged in connection with a plan to attack a Jerusalem soccer stadium. Israel indicted the men, both Palestinians, on Sunday for arms trafficking for Hamas. A gag order was lifted on the case Sunday. The charges have no connection with their jobs as maintenance workers at the consulate, which is located in the eastern Jerusalem community of Sheikh Jarrah, British media reported, citing Israeli officials.
The student newspaper at a British university was removed from campus distribution after publishing a comment by a Palestinian journalist interpreted as derogatory toward Jews.\n
A new book that criticizes Britain’s chief rabbi is opening old wounds and sparking a new debate about whether the institution of the British chief rabbi has outlived its usefulness.\n
Two British lawmakers accused supporters of Israel of “buying” influence in the Conservative Party.\n\nBoth used anti-Semitic stereotypes in their statements, reportedly made last week, which drew criticism from the body that monitors anti-Semitism in Britain.\n
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.