WJC News Update – Jewish Agency to end Ethiopian aliyah operation in August

Jewish Agency to end Ethiopian aliyah operation in August 26 Jun 2013 Decades-old efforts by the Jewish Agency for Israel to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel are to conclude with two final flights of 400 immigrants in late August. READ MORE »

Israel hits back at UNESCO in wake of condemnation – Times of Israel 26 Jun 2013 Palestinian-sponsored resolution on Jerusalem ‘nothing but a heap of disconnected-from-reality statements,’ Foreign Ministry says. READ MORE »

Jon Stewart plays Jewish card on Egypt TV – Media Line 25 Jun 2013 Host of America’s hit political satire show appears on program often described as ‘Egyptian Daily Show,’ declares he likes ‘to wander like my people did in the Egyptian desert for 40 years’. READ MORE »

Iranian Jews increasingly ‘coming out of the closet’ – as artists – Times of Israel 25 Jun 2013 Once barred from the arts, Iranian Jews in the US are defying tradition, spurning trades and exhibiting on the world stage. READ MORE »

Hungarian Jewry can strike back with ‘more than words’ – Jerusalem Post 25 Jun 2013 Hungary’s Jewish community is ready to strike back against anti-Semites with the same methods with which they may be attacked, community leader Gusztav Zoltai said. READ MORE »

Vatican: Study on ‘Italian Schindler’ hasty – Reuters 25 Jun 2013 The Vatican newspaper says a decision by scholars to brand a wartime Italian previously praised for saving Jews as a Nazi collaborator is part of an attempt to smear the Catholic Church during the papacy of Pope Pius XII. READ MORE »

London: Jewish security group to protect mosque – Jewish Chronicle 25 Jun 2013 Jewish volunteer security group Shomrim has offered to protect a London mosque threatened by anti-Muslim violence. READ MORE »

Netanyahu urges Palestinians to start talks, and stay at them – Jerusalem Post 25 Jun 2013 Western diplomats tell Israeli media that PM is willing to release prisoners, freeze settlement building in return for Abbas giving up demand to start talks based on 1967 lines. READ MORE »

Babi Yar memorial to be built in Kiev in honor of 100,000 massacred by Nazis – Haaretz

24 Jun 2013 A new memorial complex will be built at the site of the Babi Yar massacre in Kiev, where an estimated 50,000 Jews were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust, the World Forum of Russian-speaking Jews announced. READ MORE »

Hamas executes two Palestinians convicted of spying for Israel – Reuters

24 Jun 2013 Hamas leaders said they had hanged two Palestinians found guilty of spying for Israel over a decade, making them the first to be executed since the end of a month-long amnesty for informants in April. READ MORE »