Today's Focus
Germany has immunity from lawsuits brought by foreign Nazi victims, international court rules
The International Court of Justice in the Dutch city of The Hague has confirmed that Germany has legal immunity from being sued in foreign courts by victims of Nazi atrocities committed during World War II. read more »
Leading official of Hungarian extremist party accuses Jews of colonializing country
In an interview with the 'Jewish Chronicle', Márton Gyöngyösi, deputy leader of the far-right Jobbik party, openly questioned the Holocaust. He also claimed that Jews were colonizing Hungary and that Israeli's treatment of the Palestinians was like a "Nazi system". read more »
Ronald Lauder calls Italian ruling on anti-Semitic cartoon "travesty"
The president of the World Jewish Congress expressed outrage at the conviction of Italian journalist and politician Peppino Caldarola who had written an article criticizing a cartoon that depicts fellow parliamentarian Fiamma Nirenstein, who is Jewish, with a hooked nose, the symbol of fascist Italy, and the Star of David. read more »
Priority Issues
WJC & The Iranian Threat
Iran's nuclear ambitions pose a threat to its neighbors and the world. Iran is a leading sponsor of terrorism. Iranian leaders, above all President Ahmadinejad, repeatedly question or deny the Holocaust and threaten Israel. read more »
WJC & Combating anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism is still a deeply-rooted phenomenon in many democracies, despite efforts by governments and NGOs to tackle it. In addition to 'traditional' anti-Semitism, new forms and expressions of anti-Semitism are being manifested around the world. read more »
WJC & Fighting terrorism
Jews, and Jewish sites, are often the main targets of terrorists. The WJC works to fight terrorism by advocating a halt in arms proliferation to terrorist groups, better international cooperation, and the protection of Jewish institutions. read more »
WJC & Supporting Israel
Around the world, Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state is constantly questioned. The WJC and its affiliates actively defend the legitimacy of Israel on all levels and support the state against unfair and biased attacks. read more »
WJC & the Legacy of the Holocaust
Seven decades after the Shoah, some countries still have not returned stolen Jewish property. The WJC defends the rights of the victims and their heirs. It also strives to ensure that the greatest crime in the history of mankind is not denied or trivialized. read more »
WJC & Jews from Arab Lands
The plight and concerns of Jews who fled from,or still live in, Arab lands after 1948 are not well-known. The WJC is committed to raising this issue with governments and international organizations. read more »
WJC & Promoting Inter-Faith Dialogue
The WJC has always spearheaded dialogue between the three Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Inter-faith cooperation can make an important contribution to peace around the world and to better understanding between communities in our societies. read more »
Iran’s leader: Tehran will aid anyone confronting "cancer" Israel - Associated Press, USA
03 Feb 2012 Iran will help any nation or group that confronts the “cancer” Israel, the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday. read more »
Germany has immunity from lawsuits brought by foreign Nazi victims, international court rules
03 Feb 2012 The International Court of Justice in the Dutch city of The Hague has confirmed that Germany has legal immunity from being sued in foreign courts by victims of Nazi atrocities committed during World War II. read more »
Leading official of Hungarian extremist party accuses Jews of colonializing country
03 Feb 2012 In an interview with the 'Jewish Chronicle', Márton Gyöngyösi, deputy leader of the far-right Jobbik party, openly questioned the Holocaust. He also claimed that Jews were colonizing Hungary and that Israeli's treatment of the Palestinians was like a "Nazi system". read more »
Amsterdam rabbi reinstated after homosexuality row - Jerusalem Post, Israel
03 Feb 2012 The Orthodox Jewish community of Amsterdam has reinstated its chief rabbi, Aryeh Ralbag, after briefly suspending him last month for having co-signed a statement in which homosexuality was described as an inclination from which one can be “healed.” read more »
Australian flag-maker says swastika will stay despite Jewish anger - News.com.au, Australia
03 Feb 2012 A flag-maker says Nazi flags flying outside his home will not be removed despite calls by members of the Melbourne Jewish community. read more »
Netherlands returns two paintings looted by Nazi leader Göring to Jewish heir - Bloomberg, USA
03 Feb 2012 The Dutch government said today it will return two paintings that were looted more than 70 years ago by Hermann Göring for his country estate to the descendants of a Jewish antiques dealer in Paris. read more »
Austrian president cancels award to far-right leader over anti-Semitic remarks - Haaretz, Israel
03 Feb 2012 Prestigious award is retracted after Austrian daily quotes Freedom Party leader Heinz Straché as saying, 'We are the new Jews,' in response to protesters who heckled guests arriving at a ball coinciding with International Holocaust Remembrance Day. read more »
American Jewish leaders offended by Georgia preacher's ceremony - Associated Press, USA
03 Feb 2012 Jewish leaders are criticizing a ceremony that involved a controversial church leader being wrapped in a Torah scroll and exalted as a "king" to the applause of his parishioners. read more »
US rabbi admits Torah tales were a fraud - New York Times, USA
03 Feb 2012 Rabbi Youlus has pleaded guilty to fraud, admitting to a scheme to steal money while claiming to be saving and restoring historic Torahs. One of those who was initially dubious was Menachem Z. Rosensaft, general counsel of the World Jewish Congress. read more »
Shin Bet chief: Iran trying to hit Israeli targets in response to attacks on nuclear scientists - Haaretz, Israel
03 Feb 2012 Iran was trying to strike Israeli targets around the world in a bid to stop the assassinations of its nuclear scientists, the head of the Israel's internal security service, Yoram Cohen, has said. read more »
Full Text of Letter from Ronald S. Lauder to President Obama
15 Apr 2010 The full text of the open on US-Israel relations letter from World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder to US President Barak Obama. read more »
OPINION - José María Aznar: If Israel goes down, we all go down
18 Jun 2010 Anger over Gaza is a distraction. We cannot forget that Israel is the West’s best ally in a turbulent region, argues Spain's former Prime Minister José María Aznar in an op-ed for 'The Times'. read more »
WJC PRESIDENT URGES OBAMA TO CHANGE STANCE ON ISRAEL
15 Apr 2010 In an open letter to US President Barack Obama, WJC President Ronald S. Lauder writes that Jews around the world are concerned about 'the dramatic deterioration of diplomatic relations between the United States and Israel' in recent months. read more »
Radical Muslim poet forms anti-Zionist party in Sweden
22 Jan 2010 Mohamed Omar, a Swedish poet and commentator, has announced the foundation of a new political party whose main aim is to combat Zionism and which welcomes supporters from both ends of the political spectrum. read more »
At World Jewish Congress meeting, Peres voices optimism about peace process
31 Aug 2010 Opening an important gathering of the World Jewish Congress in Jerusalem, Israeli President Shimon Peres has called the peace process “the most important task of our time.” read more »
OPINION - Leon de Winter: Anti-Semitism is Salonfähig Again - Wall Street Journal Europe
14 Jun 2010 Why do people and organizations that present themselves as progressive team up with reactionary Muslims, asks the Dutch novelist Leon de Winter in an op-ed published in the 'Wall Street Journal Europe'. read more »
Actor Jon Voight attacks Obama over Israel
24 Jun 2010 The American actor Jon Voight has launched a blistering attack on President Barack Obama, accusing him of putting Israel in harm’s way. read more »
Louis Farrakhan calls Jews the “worst enemy” of African Americans
30 Jun 2010 The controversial minister of the Nation of Islam movement, Louis Farrakhan, has written a letter to the leaders of more than a dozen major US Jewish organizations in which he claims that Jews had caused Blacks damage for centuries. read more »
Ronald Lauder laments Polish decision to halt property restitution process
13 Mar 2011 The head of the World Jewish Congress and the World Jewish Restitution Organization, Ronald S. Lauder, has expressed shock and dismay at the announcement by Poland to suspend legislation to provide compensation for former property owners whose assets were confiscated during the Communist period, among them many Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust. read more »
Muslims, Jews warn Europe: Mainstreaming of far-right parties is unacceptable
07 Mar 2011 At a meeting in Paris co-organized by the World Jewish Congress, European Muslim and Jewish leaders have agreed on joint action against extremists and announced plans for a series of public events in European capitals, on Europe Day (9 May). read more »
Saudi religious leaders issue fatwa against terrorism
18 Jun 2010 The highest body of Muslim clerics in Saudi Arabia has issued a important religious ruling against terrorism, saying that committing terrorist acts, and even funding them, was against Islamic law. read more »
OPINION - Menachem Z. Rosensaft: Poland's foreign minister misspeaks on restitution
29 Mar 2011 By disparaging the US government's support of demands that Poland compensate Jews for property stolen from them during the Holocaust, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski exacerbated the firestorm created by his government's peremptory decision to walk away from long-promised restitution legislation for spurious economic reasons. read more »
Oliver Stone revives anti-Semitic stereotypes
26 Jul 2010 American movie director Oliver Stone has alleged that Jewish control of the media was preventing an open debate about the Holocaust. He also alleged that the Jewish lobby in Washington was controlling US foreign policy. read more »
Head of small Jewish community in Germany receives death threats from Islamist
21 Jan 2011 A German Islamist has reportedly issued death threats against Wolfgang Seibert, the head of the small Jewish community of Pinneberg, near Hamburg. read more »
World Jewish Congress Statement Regarding Israeli Operation Aboard the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla"
01 Jun 2010 The World Jewish Congress expresses sincere regret at the violence and loss of life during the attempt by Israeli forces on 31 May 2010 to take control of a ship that had broken Israel's legally sanctioned naval blockade in international waters. read more »
WJC and CER Denounce Anti-Semitic Statements Made by Greek Orthodox Church Officials
23 Dec 2010 The World Jewish Congress (WJC) and the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) have called on the Orthodox Church in Greece to condemn vitriolic, anti-Semitic public statements recently made by Metropolitan of Piraeus Seraphim and Metropolitan Anthimus of Salonika. read more »
Hungarian Jews demonstrate against rising anti-Semitism and extremism
07 Apr 2010 More than 1,000 Jews marched through central Budapest in protest against a series of anti-Semitic incidents and the worsening political climate in the run-up to parliamentary elections next week. read more »
Star of David discovered atop Iran’s national airline headquarters
01 Dec 2010 Officials in Iran are upset after discovering the outline of a Star of David atop the roof of the headquarters of Iran Air, the Islamic republic’s national airline, the Arab news channel ‘al-Arabiya’ reports. read more »
Nazi war crimes suspect dies before trial begins in Germany
06 Jul 2010 A former SS sergeant who was under investigation for Nazi war crimes has died before he could be brought to trial in Germany. read more »
Media mogul Murdoch decries “soft war” against Israel
20 Oct 2010 Rupert Murdoch, the Australian-born CEO of News Corp who owns a range of TV networks and newspapers including ‘Fox’ and the ‘New York Post’, has decried the "ongoing war against the Jews" and demanded an end to efforts to isolate Israel. read more »
Bishop Williamson lashes out against the Jews again
19 Oct 2011 The dissident Catholic bishop Richard Williamson, who caused an outcry in 2009 after publicly denying the Holocaust in a TV interview whilst being readmitted into the fold of the Catholic Church by the Vatican, has publicly attacked Pope Benedict XVI for absolving Jews of the age-old Christian charge of committing ‘deicide’. read more »
Delta criticized for helping to implement Saudi travel restrictions on Jews
24 Jun 2011 Jews and passengers carrying any non-Islamic article of faith such as bibles will reportedly not be able to fly code-share flights from the US to Saudi Arabia under Delta Air Lines' new partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines. WJC Secretary General Dan Diker urged Delta not to become “complicit with what appears to be an anti-Semitic policy.” read more »
Campaigners call on American shoppers to buy Israeli goods on 30 March to counter boycott movement
25 Feb 2011 Pro-Israel groups in the United States are urging supporters to buy Israeli goods on 30 March in order to counter a global anti-Israel boycott called for that day. read more »
Lauder and Netanyahu condemn UNESCO vote on Cave of Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb
02 Nov 2010 World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have criticized a decision by the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organization to define two historic Jewish shrines in the West Bank as “Palestinian” sites. read more »
US Congressmen rebuke Obama administration for stark criticism of Israel
16 Mar 2010 The sharp criticism by the Obama administration of Israel’s announcement to build 1,600 new housing units in east Jerusalem has been rebuked by a number of US senators and representatives. read more »
“I am an anti-Semite”, famous Greek composer admits
10 Feb 2011 The acclaimed Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, 85, has openly admitted that he is an "anti-Semite and anti-Zionist." In a TV interview he blamed American Jews for being “behind the world economic crisis”. read more »
Albania opposed to Palestinian unilateralism, PM Sali Berisha tells gathering in Jerusalem
22 Nov 2011 In a speech before the Israel Council on Foreign Relations, which operates under the auspices of the World Jewish Congress, Albania's Prime Minister Barisha on Monday declared that his government was categorically opposed to attempts to secure recognition of a Palestinian state in the United Nations. read more »
At Vatican, bishops call for legal steps against Israeli occupation
25 Oct 2010 A synod of bishops representing Catholic and other churches in the Middle East has called on the international community to take "the necessary legal steps to put an end to the occupation of the different Arab territories" and warned Israel not to use the Bible to justify any "injustices" against the Palestinians. read more »
Jewish and Muslim leaders urge European Union heads not to pander to extreme-right
30 May 2011 Bosnian Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric and Brussels Chief Rabbi Albert Guigui have presented a joint declaration signed by 33 leaders of Islamic and Jewish communities in Europe to the presidents of the three main EU institutions, Barroso, Buzek and Van Rompuy. The initiative is co-sponsored by the World Jewish Congress. read more »
Pro-Palestinian protestors prevent unloading of Israeli ship in Californian port
21 Jun 2010 On Sunday, around 500 anti-Israel protesters formed a picket line at the port of Oakland, California, and temporarily prevented an incoming Israeli ship from being unloaded. read more »
Overwhelmingly negative attitudes toward Jews in Islamic countries
09 Feb 2010 A survey conducted by Pew Research in 25 countries has found that the populations of nearly all Muslim countries hold very negative attitudes toward Jews. read more »
Several councils in Scotland adopt boycott of Israel
24 May 2011 A Scottish municipality has imposed a ban on any new books by Israeli authors from its libraries, while another is calling on its citizens to boycott of Israeli goods. "A place that boycotts books is not far from a place that burns them," Israel's ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, said. read more »
After public pressure, Facebook removes page calling for Palestinian uprising against Israel
30 Mar 2011 A fan page posted on the social networking site ‘Facebook’ by radical Palestinian groups has been deleted after the World Jewish Congress and many others called for its removal. read more »
Bishop Williamson lashes out against the Jews again
19 Oct 2011 The dissident Catholic bishop Richard Williamson, who caused an outcry in 2009 after publicly denying the Holocaust in a TV interview whilst being readmitted into the fold of the Catholic Church by the Vatican, has publicly attacked Pope Benedict XVI for absolving Jews of the age-old Christian charge of committing ‘deicide’. read more »
Jewish neighborhoods in London affected by rioting
10 Aug 2011 Continued rioting and shop looting in the British capital is increasingly affecting heavily Jewish neighborhoods. The Board of Deputies of British Jews expressed shock over the rioting and called for unity. read more »
Abbas: Palestinians will not recognize Israel as Jewish state
29 Aug 2011 PA President Mahmoud Abbas has ruled out the possibility of the Palestinians accepting Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. World Jewish Congress Secretary General Dan Diker and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said this showed the true intentions of the Palestinian leadership. read more »
Iran stays execution of woman convicted of adultery following global outcry
04 Nov 2010 Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for allegedly having committed adultery, escaped her execution on Wednesday after strong international protests. read more »
Israeli raid on Gaza-bound ships triggers world-wide condemnation
01 Jun 2010 The Israeli government has defended the raid on a Gaza-bound ship carrying 600 pro-Palestinian campaigners in which nine people were killed and many more injured. read more »
UK student leader subjected to barrage of anti-Semitic insults at rally
01 Feb 2011 Aaron Porter, the head of the Britain’s National Union of Students, had to be escorted to safety by police after being surrounded by radical protesters shouting anti-Semitic insults at him at a rally. read more »
More than 40 killed and 13,000 evacuated in “worst disaster in Israel's history"
03 Dec 2010 A devastating forest fire on the Carmel Mountain near Haifa in northern Israel has killed at least 40 people who were trying to evacuate a prison. Israel is receiving foreign aid, including from many countries in the region, to battle the fire. 13,000 people in the area have so far been evacuated. read more »
OPINION - Paul Peter Jesep: John Demjanjuk in a broader context
13 May 2011 Ukraine has been an ethnic, social, religious, and political crossroads. Its rich heritage has yet to be fully and successfully integrated in a post Imperial and Soviet age. This is especially true when it comes to Jewish-Ukrainian relations that too often harbor fear, distrust, and misunderstanding. read more »
Norwegian politician sparks outrage after publicly denying Holocaust
22 Mar 2011 Members of Norway’s Labor Party have called for the resignation of one of the movement’s lawmakers who denied the existence of the Nazi gas chambers and accused Holocaust survivors of exaggerating their stories. read more »
Texan House speaker under fire from his own party for being Jewish
18 Nov 2010 Joe Straus, the Republican speaker of the Texan House of Representatives who is seeking re-election, has come under attack for being Jewish. read more »
DNA test concludes that Adolf Hitler had Jewish, North African ancestors
24 Aug 2010 Nazi leader Adolf Hitler possibly had Jewish as well as African ancestors, according to a report by the British newspaper ‘Daily Express’, citing new DNA tests done in Belgium. read more »
Isi Leibler: An open letter to President Obama
21 Apr 2011 Dear Mr. President, permit me to explain why, despite your assurances, most Israelis still harbor profound anxiety about your attitude toward our security. read more »
Israel says it will turn away Gaza 'Freedom Flotilla'
26 May 2010 Israel has said it will block a fleet of nine ships carrying international activists and supplies from reaching the Gaza Strip. read more »
‘NaziSexyMouse’ poster causes outrage in Poland
12 Jul 2010 A huge poster of a Nazi swastika behind a naked pin-up model clad only in a Mickey Mouse-mask and stretched across a building has stirred controversy in Poland. read more »
WJC ANALYSIS - Pinhas Inbari: Turkey's true target
12 Sep 2011 Should Turkey succeed in its attempt to assume regional leadership and foster ties with Iran and Syria, Israel will not be the only state to suffer the consequences – the whole of Europe will be threatened. read more »
BBC defends TV documentary on Israeli flotilla raid as fair and balanced
19 Aug 2010 The editors of the BBC television program ‘Panorama’ issued a strong rebuff to viewers claiming that a report into the Israeli flotilla raid in May, entitled ‘Death in the Med and broadcast on Monday, had been biased in Israel’s favor. read more »
Greek Priest Issues 'Clarification' after Controversial Anti-Semitic Comments
14 Jan 2011 A Greek priest who caused outrage with anti-Semitic remarks during a television interview has issued a letter of clarification, claiming that it is Zionism and not Jews that he hates. read more »
Lauder criticizes British foreign minister for ignoring Israel's security interests
09 Feb 2011 WJC President Ronald S. Lauder has expressed disappointment about comments made by British Foreign Secretary William Hague on the Middle East and Israel. Lauder called them “one-sided” and added: “Putting undue political pressure on Israel alone, completely neglecting its vital security interests, is counterproductive and unhelpful.” read more »
Ahmadinejad enacts boycott law against ‘Jewish’ corporations
01 Jul 2010 Iran has banned ‘Zionist' companies , including non-Israeli ones, from doing business in Iran, Israel’s ‘Army Radio’ has reported. read more »
Lemba tribe in southern Africa has Jewish roots, genetic tests reveal
08 Mar 2010 Genetic tests carried out by British scientists have revealed that many of the Lemba tribesmen in southern Africa have Jewish origins, according to a report by the BBC. read more »
Democratic US senator attacks Obama’s stance on Israel
26 Apr 2010 The senior US senator from the state of New York, Charles Schumer, has attacked the Obama administration’s relations with Israel. read more »
Dozens of Nobel Prize laureates condemn boycott campaign against Israel
02 Nov 2010 Under the auspices of the initiative Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, 38 Nobel peace prize laureates have signed a declaration condemning international attempts to boycott, divest from or sanction Israeli academics, institutions, and research or training centers. read more »
More rejection of Jews and Muslims in Germany than in other European nations
02 Dec 2010 According to a study conducted by social scientists, anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim sentiments are far more wide-spread in Germany than in other western European countries. read more »
Berlusconi fuels speculation about Israeli military strike against Iran
28 Jun 2010 Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi reportedly said that he and fellow world leaders "believe absolutely" that Israel may decide to take military action against Iran to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. read more »
Winona Ryder accuses Mel Gibson of calling her an "oven dodger"
17 Dec 2010 The Jewish actress Winona Ryder has claimed that American actor and film director Mel Gibson had made "anti-Semitic and homophobic" remarks long before he was caught on tape doing so in 2006. read more »
Palestinian Authority ‘study’ claims Kotel is not a historic Jewish site
24 Nov 2010 Israel has called on the Palestinian leadership to publicly disassociate itself from a “scientific study” by a Palestinian Authority official which denies Jewish claims to the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site. read more »
Rachel's Tomb and Cave of the Patriarchs declared as Palestinian sites by UN cultural body
09 Nov 2010 The UN's cultural body, UNESCO, has angered Jews around the world by recognizing two ancient Jews sites as “Palestinian”. At the beginning of November UNESCO adopted proposals, from Arab member states, to recognize Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs as “an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territories”. read more »
Australian Jews complain to broadcaster about TV series ‘The Promise’
10 Jan 2012 The Executive Council of Australian Jewry has sent a letter of complaint to the Australian broadcaster SBS about the British-made television series ‘The Promise’, which it says conveys anti-Jewish stereotypes. read more »
Speech by José María Aznar to the World Jewish Congress: Defending Israel to Defend Ourselves
06 Sep 2010 Israel today is nothing less than essential to us because it is one of the few nations willing to pay a price for its survival, said former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar in a speech to delegates at the WJC Governing Board in Jerusalem, on 1 September 2010. read more »
Saudi prince offers $900,000 for capture of Israeli soldier
31 Oct 2011 A member of Saudi Arabia's royal family has offered a $900,000 reward for the capture of an Israeli soldier. read more »
Doubts about claim by former British PoW that he smuggled himself into Auschwitz
11 Apr 2011 The claim made by 92-year-old Briton Denis Avey in his new book that he swapped uniforms with a Jewish inmate at Auschwitz when being held at a PoW camp nearby have been questioned following the publication of an investigation by British journalists. The World Jewish Congress has called on Avey's publishers to check whether his story is true. read more »
Spanish Jews outraged at acquittal of neo-Nazis by High Court
06 Jun 2011 The Jewish Community Federation of Spain has strongly criticized the decision by the High Court to quash a lower court’s decision which had found four persons linked to the Kalki bookshop in Barcelona guilty of incitement to hatred and anti-Semitism. Israel's Embassy in Madrid said the ruling was reason for "sadness and concern." read more »
British trade union federation launches campaign against Israeli products from West Bank
12 Apr 2010 The Trades Union Congress in the UK has launched a campaign calling for an import ban for goods produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. read more »
Planned Bollywood movie ‘Dear Friend Hitler’ angers Indian Jews
16 Jun 2010 Plans by filmmakers in India to make a film on Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler that will claim that the despot loved India and that he indirectly contributed to its independence have outraged members of the Jewish community. read more »
Iranians attack “racist logo” of 2012 Olympic Games in London
01 Mar 2011 The National Olympic Committee of Iran has accused the organizers of the 2012 Olympic Games in London of racism, saying their logo spelled the word ‘Zion’. read more »
World Jewish Congress hails Pope’s rejection of Jewish guilt for crucifixion of Jesus
03 Mar 2011 WJC President Ronald S. Lauder has praised Benedict XVI for setting an important marker against anti-Semitism in the Catholic Church. In his new book on the life of Jesus, the Pope explained that references in the Christian New Testament which blame collectively “the Jews” referred to only a few Temple officials at the time. read more »
Holocaust-era database of 'Joint' now searchable online
03 May 2011 The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is making a collection of its historic records and photographs from the Holocaust period available online. The website enables the public to search a database of more than 500,000 names and to view and identify photos from 14 countries where the organization operated during and after the war. read more »
A third of Nazis' war effort funded with money stolen from Jews, study finds
10 Nov 2010 German dictator Adolf Hitler's Nazi party “actively worked to destroy Europe's Jews financially,” and nearly a third of the German war effort was paid for with money stolen from Jews, according a new study about the role of the German Finance Ministry during the ‘Third Reich’. read more »
SPECIAL REPORT: Jerusalem Arabs withhold support over unilateral Palestinian state, new survey finds
09 May 2011 Less than a third of the Arab population of east Jerusalem prefers to cast its lot with any future Palestinian state, according to researcher David Pollock. The former senior adviser on the Middle East at the US State Department presented his findings at a roundtable discussion at the Institute of the World Jewish Congress. read more »
US in grip of Israel lobby, Helen Thomas alleges
21 Mar 2011 Former White House reporter Helen Thomas, 90, has said she knew exactly what she was doing when she said on camera that Jews "should get the hell out of Palestine." read more »
WJC ANALYSIS - Dan Diker about the Hamas-Shalit deal and its implications
14 Oct 2011 The dramatic prisoner exchange between Israel and the Hamas government in Gaza speaks volumes about the culture of both sides. Israel’s readiness to pay a virtually unimaginable price is a testimony to the living influence of 3,000 years of Jewish law. read more »
Ronald Lauder calls Italian ruling on anti-Semitic cartoon "travesty"
24 Jan 2012 The president of the World Jewish Congress expressed outrage at the conviction of Italian journalist and politician Peppino Caldarola who had written an article criticizing a cartoon that depicts fellow parliamentarian Fiamma Nirenstein, who is Jewish, with a hooked nose, the symbol of fascist Italy, and the Star of David. read more »
Jean-Marie Le Pen parts from political scene with anti-Semitic slur
17 Jan 2011 Marine Le Pen has been elected as leader of the extreme-right and xenophobic National Front movement, succeeding her father Jean-Marie, who made another statement against Jews in his farewell speech. read more »
World Jewish Congress denounces Greek judiciary for siding with notorious anti-Semite
20 Sep 2010 As three Greek human rights activists are to go on trial for speaking out against judges who acquitted the extreme-right politician Kostas Plevris, the World Jewish Congress has called on the European Parliament to send an official observer to watch the trial in Athens. read more »
World Jewish Congress urges Rome to sideline opponents of Catholic-Jewish reconciliation
24 Oct 2011 Ahead of the interfaith meeting later this week in Assisi, Italy – hosted by Pope Benedict XVI and to be attended by 300 religious leaders from around the Globe – the World Jewish Congress has urged the Vatican to forcefully oppose attempts to blame Jews collectively for the death of Jesus. read more »
Arizona Congreswoman May Have Been Targeted for Being Jewish
10 Jan 2011 The US Department of Homeland Security has listed Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords' Jewish faith as being a possible factor in her shooting. read more »
Iranian official defends stoning as UN committee expresses “deep concern” at human rights situation
19 Nov 2010 A UN General Assembly committee adopted a resolution strongly criticizing “serious human rights violations in Iran.” Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of Iran's Human Rights Council, defended the practice of stoning people to death read more »
UK government appoints first-ever envoy for Holocaust-related issues
14 Jun 2010 The British government has appointed a former ambassador as its first-ever envoy to deal with post-Holocaust issues. read more »
Nazi victims want EU to put pressure on Vatican Bank over looted assets
27 Oct 2010 Holocaust survivors have asked the European Commission to investigate claims that the Vatican’s financial arm laundered money stolen from Jews and others in the former Yugoslavia during World War II. read more »
Helen Thomas makes more anti-Semitic remarks
06 Dec 2010 The ex-dean of the White House press corps, 90-year-old former Hearst Newspapers columnist and reporter Helen Thomas, has alleged that "Congress, the White House, Hollywood and Wall Street are owned by the Zionists." The statements caused her former university in Michigan to drop an award named after her. read more »
Israel rejects Obama proposal for pre-1967 borders to form basis of Mideast peace deal
20 May 2011 In a major policy speech on the Middle East, US President Obama said the border lines which existed prior to 1967 should form the basis of a Middle East peace deal, with mutually agreed territorial swaps. Israel’s PM Netanyahu and the World Jewish Congress called these borders “indefensible” and criticized Obama. read more »
Anti-Israel campaigners hail UK leader’s decision to cut ties with Jewish National Fund
30 May 2011 British Prime Minister David Cameron has removed his name from a list of patrons of the British branch of the Jewish National Fund. read more »
Columbia University under investigation for anti-Jewish discrimination
06 Oct 2011 The US Department of Education is investigating Columbia University for allegedly discriminating against a Jewish student read more »
Hezbollah chief threatens to conquer Israeli territory
16 Feb 2011 Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Shiite movement Hezbollah in Lebanon, has threatened to occupy northern Israel in case of war with the Jewish state. read more »
German neo-Nazi legislator suspended after calling Israel “Jewish terror state”
18 Jun 2010 A member of a state legislature in Germany has been suspended for six months after calling Israel a “Jewish terror state” and speaking of a “thriving Holocaust industry”. read more »
Israel discusses rabbis’ arrest and endorsement of book justifying the killing of non-Jews
06 Jul 2011 President Shimon Peres and Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar have met in Jerusalem to discuss the controversy surrounding the book ‘Kings Torah’ and the temporary arrest of two rabbis. Both men agreed to join forces "to preserve the rule of the law and protect the honor of the Torah." read more »
Anti-Semitic incidents in Canada at all time high
26 Feb 2010 Anti-Semitic incidents in Canada rose to record levels in 2009, according to a just released annual audit. read more »
Menachem Rosensaft - Transferring memory: The task of children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors
08 Aug 2011 Many if not most children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors live with ghosts. We are haunted much in the way a cemetery is haunted. We bear within us the shadows and echoes of an anguished dying we never experienced or witnessed. Today, the principal responsibility for transmitting the survivors’ legacy of remembrance into the future has shifted to their children and grandchildren. read more »
Children’s song endorsing martyrdom gaining popularity in Arab world
23 Jun 2010 A music video with a song sung by a Palestinian children's choir endorsing martyrdom in the fight against Israel is becoming increasingly popular in the Arab world. read more »
Father of Swedish queen made fortune from seized Jewish factory - TV report
02 Dec 2010 A Swedish TV documentary accused the late father of German-born Queen Silvia of Sweden, Walter Sommerlath, of making a fortune from a factory seized from its Jewish owners by the Nazis. read more »
Gilat Shalit free - WJC leaders praise Netanyahu for taking "brave decision"
18 Oct 2011 Hamas on Tuesday morning released Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit from more than five years in captivity. World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder called it "wonderful news for his family and for the entire Jewish people." read more »
UN vindicates Israel over deadly exchange of fire with Lebanese troops
05 Aug 2010 The peacekeeping force of the United Nations in southern Lebanon has confirmed that Israeli forces were pruning trees located on their own territory when an exchange of fire with Lebanese troops took place. read more »
Former bishop in Italy alleges “Zionist attack” against Catholic Church
13 Apr 2010 Giacomo Babini, a retired Catholic bishop in Italy, has reportedly suggested that “Zionists” were behind the current storm of accusations over sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests that has been roiling the Vatican. read more »
Iranian swimmer again refuses to compete with Israeli athlete at World Championships
26 Jul 2011 At the Shanghai FINA World Championships, Mohammed Alirezaei refused to contest a 100-meter breaststroke heat evidently because of the presence of an Israeli athlete. He had also done so at the Bejing Olympics in 2008. read more »
Germany indicts former SS guard at Belzec camp
30 Jul 2010 Prosecutors in Germany have filed charges against a 90-year-old man for allegedly helping to murder 430,000 Jews during World War II. read more »
Initiative to ban circumcision in San Francisco condemned by Jewish groups
19 Nov 2010 Jewish organizations have condemned a proposal to outlaw ritual circumcision of minors in San Francisco. read more »
Congresswomen urge federal funding for homecare of Shoah survivors in US
05 Aug 2011 Holocaust survivors living in the United States would receive federal funds designed to help them age at home, rather than having to move to an institution, according to a new bill drafted by the Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her Republican counterpart Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. read more »
Eizenstat urges Poland to reconsider suspension of restitution bill
17 Mar 2011 The US government has expressed "disappointment" about Poland’s decision to suspend a planned law providing for the restitution and compensation for private property seized between 1939 and 1989. read more »
Statement by WJC Secretary General Michael Schneider on Polish restitution
31 Mar 2011 It has been reported by Polish media that the World Jewish Congress is advocating a boycott of Poland over the government's decision to halt private property restitution. This is untrue. At no point has the WJC proposed a boycott of Poland, nor have we considered or discussed any such measure. We continue to pursue diplomatic initiatives to resolve this important matter. read more »
Nazi-style outfits worn by dance troupe on Australian talent show cause stir
18 Nov 2010 An episode of the popular Australian talent show ‘The X Factor’ featured the American pop singer Ke$ha performing her hit single ‘We R Who We R’ with a dance troupe wearing costumes and caps similar to those worn by Nazi SS fighters during World War II. read more »
Lars Von Trier to stop speaking in public following charges over Hitler comments
06 Oct 2011 Danish film director Lars Von Trier has said he will not speak to the media ever again due to being investigated for justification of war crimes over statements he made about Adolf Hitler and Jews during the film festival in Cannes. read more »
Synagogue in Maryland attacked by vandals
28 Jul 2010 Swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans including the Nazi slogans “Arbeit macht frei” (Work will set you free) and “Juden raus” (Jews out) were spray-painted on the outside of a synagogue in Olney, Maryland. read more »
Ahmadinejad survives assassination attempt in Iran
04 Aug 2010 Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has reportedly escaped an attempt to kill him in the western city of Hamadan when a hand grenade exploded in a vehicle accompanying his convoy. read more »
Hillary Clinton urges American Jews to campaign for release of US aid worker from Cuban jail
14 Jul 2010 US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has urged Jewish groups to join the campaign for the release of Alan P. Gross, an American government contractor who provided support for Cuba’s small Jewish community. read more »
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange accuses journalists of "Jewish conspiracy"
02 Mar 2011 The founder of the controversial internet platform 'WikiLeaks', Julian Assange, has accused British journalists of a "Jewish conspiracy" against him, to deprive him of funds by Jewish donors read more »
Fashion house Dior suspends its chief designer over alleged anti-Jewish remarks
27 Feb 2011 The French fashion house Dior has suspended its chief designer John Galliano after he was briefly held by police for allegedly making anti-Semitic and other racist comments in a Paris bar and attacking a couple. read more »
Computer worm designed to hamper Iran's nuclear program, say experts
16 Nov 2010 Research by the cyber security company Symantec on the Stuxnet computer worm has concluded that it was specifically programmed to sabotage electronic equipment used in Iran for uranium enrichment. read more »
US Vice President Biden reportedly prevented Pollard clemency
05 Oct 2011 The US Vice President Joseph Biden is reported to have prevented President Obama allowing clemency for Jonathan Pollard. read more »
Comments by Nixon and Kissinger on Jews and other minorities cause stir
14 Dec 2010 Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, today 87, said in 1973 that a possible genocide of Soviet Jewry would not be of concern to America’s foreign policy, newly released tapes from the Nixon years reveal. read more »
Report: Obama wants Israel to halt building in east Jerusalem for four months
01 Apr 2010 US President Barack Obama reportedly asked Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu to freeze construction in the eastern part of Jerusalem for a period of four months in order to renew peace talks with the Palestinians. read more »
Venezuelan Jews protest promotion of ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ on state radio
27 May 2011 The Jewish Community Confederation of Venezuela (CAIV) has lodged a protest with the country’s attorney general in which it denounced the promotion of the anti-Semitic pamphlet ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ by a state-owned radio channel. read more »
At AIPAC conference, Obama clarifies 1967 border remarks
23 May 2011 US President Barack Obama has told a gathering in Washington DC that his call last week for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations based on the pre-1967 lines did not mean the future state of Palestine would have those exact borders. read more »
Obama tries to assuage Jewish concerns over US Middle East policy
22 Apr 2010 In a letter addressed to Alan Solow, the chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, US President Barack Obama has said his administration’s commitment to Israel remained “unshakable.” read more »
Facebook rejects plea by Shoah survivors to remove offensive pages
29 Jul 2011 The popular social networking website Facebook has turned down a request by 21 Holocaust survivors to remove pages on which users can currently espouse Holocaust denial. read more »
OPINION - José María Aznar: If Israel goes down, we all go down
18 Jun 2010 Anger over Gaza is a distraction. We cannot forget that Israel is the West’s best ally in a turbulent region, argues Spain's former Prime Minister José María Aznar in an op-ed for 'The Times'. read more »
Conviction of Holocaust-denying Catholic bishop upheld by German appeals court
11 Jul 2011 A court in the German city of Regensburg has upheld a lower court’s conviction of Richard Williamson, 71, one of four bishops of the ultra-conservative Catholic breakaway group Society of St. Pius X, for denying the Holocaust in a 2008 interview with Swedish television. read more »
Woman who kicked out Israeli tourists of Aqaba restaurant gets praise in Jordan
30 Nov 2010 A Jordanian woman has gained fame in her country after refusing to receive a group of Israeli tourists at her restaurant in Aqaba, Jordan’s Red Sea resort bordering the Israeli city of Eilat. read more »
Jewish hockey player sues team and coaches over alleged anti-Semitism
26 Jan 2011 Jason Bailey, a professional American ice hockey player, is suing the Californian team Anaheim Ducks in court, claiming that coaches of one of its affiliate teams subjected him repeatedly to harassment and made anti-Semitic remarks. read more »
Report records shocking rise of violent anti-Semitism in western Europe in 2009
12 Apr 2010 A new survey by the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism in Tel Aviv has revealed a strong surge in violent anti-Semitism in 2009, which in western Europe has now reached the highest level in decades. read more »
Memorial to St. Louis passengers unveiled in Canada
21 Jan 2011 In Halifax, the Canadian Jewish Congress has unveiled a monument commemorating the Canadian authorities’ fateful decision in 1939 to turn away a steamship carrying Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. read more »
ANALYSIS - Dan Diker: Justin Bieber and Israel’s missed opportunity
25 Apr 2011 Justin Bieber, the hottest pop music sensation on the planet, just spent a week in Israel. It could have been a public diplomacy bonanza for the Jewish nation-state, argues WJC Secretary General-Designate Dan Diker. read more »
Canadian student files suit over anti-Semitic harassment at a Toronto university
30 Mar 2011 A Jewish student has filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal against York University in Toronto, in which he alleges that the college had actively legitimized an anti-Jewish atmosphere on campus. read more »
Supremacist Website Publishes List of Italian Jews
14 Jan 2011 The US white supremacist website 'Stormfront' has published a list of "influential" Italian Jews. read more »
WJC ANALYSIS - Terrorist attacks in the Negev : The inner struggle in Gaza
22 Aug 2011 A well planned terrorist attack claimed the lives of eight Israelis last weekend in southern Israel. The Israeli government put the responsibility for the attacks on a Gaza-based organization called 'The Popular Resistance Committees' and the IDF swiftly proceeded to kill the high ranks of its command in Rafah. What are the Popular Resistance Committees, and why did they carry out the attack at this time? Analysis by Pinhas Inbari. read more »
Sharansky lambasts proposed conversion law as divisive
13 Jul 2010 Natan Sharansky, the chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, has expressed deep disappointment following the approval by a Knesset committee of a controversial bill on conversion to Judaism. read more »
Fiamma Nirenstein laments “violent and shocking episode” in Belgium
30 Nov 2011 Following this month’s attack on a 13-year-old Jewish girl, the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians has called on Belgium to do more against growing anti-Semitism. read more »
Turkey and Israel escalate war of words
07 Apr 2010 In response to new verbal attacks on Israel by Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said the Turkish leader was "slowly turning into a Gaddafi or a Hugo Chavez.” read more »
World Jewish Congress calls for probe of brutal attack against head of Jewish school in Argentina
11 May 2011 The WJC has condemned Monday's vicious anti-Semitic attack against the director of an Orthodox Jewish school in Buenos Aires. Rabbi Moshe Cohen was accosted by a man who yelled “Dirty Jew” and other insults against him and hit him on the head with a nunchaku, an oriental martial-arts weapon. read more »
Shoah survivors protest against Boca Raton golf tournament
07 Feb 2011 Holocaust survivors are set to picket a golf tournament in South Florida sponsored by the international insurance company Allianz. read more »
Typist of ‘Schindler’s List’ who helped to save 1,200 fellow Jews dies at 91
10 Jun 2011 Mietek Pemper, the man who typed up Oskar Schindler's famous list which helped save over 1,000 Jews from the Holocaust, has died in Augsburg, in southern Germany. read more »
Syria and Iran to support Lebanon against Israeli “aggression”
12 Aug 2010 As the US halts military aid to Lebanon following the deadly exchange of fire with Israel on the border, Iran and Syria have pledged to support Lebanon militarily against “the Zionist regime”. read more »
Over 20,000 Nazi-looted artifacts now searchable online
18 Oct 2010 More than 20,000 artworks stolen by the Nazis from Jews in occupied Belgium and France during World War II can now be searched in an online catalog. read more »
Israeli volleyball team assailed by protestors in Turkey
26 Jul 2010 An Israeli women's volleyball team was assailed by protestors while playing against Serbia in the Turkish capital Ankara on Saturday. read more »
Malaysian soccer federation says sorry to Israeli player for suffering anti-Semitic abuse
03 Aug 2011 The Football Association of Malaysia has offered a qualified apology to the leading English soccer club Chelsea FC and its Israeli player Yossi Benayoun for any anti-Semitic abuse suffered during a recent match in the capital Kuala Lumpur. read more »
Israel intercepts Gaza aid ship peacefully as more flotillas are being chartered
07 Jun 2010 Israel on Saturday peacefully intercepted a Gaza-bound aid ship with 19 pro-Palestinian activists on board and towed it into the Israeli port of Ashdod. read more »
OPINION: Maram Stern on the role of German diplomats during the Nazi era
29 Oct 2010 It is bad enough that 60 years had to pass until it was decided, in 2005, to take a closer look at the role the German Foreign Office played in the Third Reich. The four historians who undertook this task have now concluded that the ministry was a "criminal organization“. read more »
WJC ANALYSIS - Israel's rights as a nation-state in international diplomacy
20 Sep 2011 World-renowned experts have joined together for a book, jointly published by the World Jewish Congress and the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, which outlines Israel’s rights as a nation-state in international diplomacy and refutes all the major claims made against the Jewish state. read more »
Israel retaliates after missiles from Gaza hit Beersheba
24 Feb 2011 At least two long-range Grad rockets have landed in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, one striking an apartment building. Israel's Air Force struck against a rocket-firing squad and other targets in Gaza. read more »
British trade union calls for boycott - Jerusalem Post, Israel
25 Jun 2010 One of Britain's largest labor unions votes for a boycott of Israel and for expelling Israel'si envoy in Britain, the 'Jerusalem Post' reports. read more »
Canada announces boycott of United Nations' Durban III "charade"
26 Nov 2010 The Canadian Jewish Congress has welcomed a decision by the government of Canada not to take part in a commemoration at the United Nations of the controversial 2001 Durban declaration on racism. read more »
Yad Vashem list of identified Jewish Holocaust victims tops 4 million
22 Dec 2010 The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and Museum has compiled a list of 4 million confirmed names of Jews murdered in the Holocaust. In the last 10 years the names of an additional 1.5 million Jewish victims have been added to the list. read more »
White House officials meet with rabbis to sooth concerns on Israel
17 May 2010 White House officials have met with a group of selected rabbis for the second time about the Obama administration's perceived lack of friendliness toward Israel. read more »
Costa Rica to have Jewish vice-president
10 Feb 2010 Luis Liberman, who is Jewish, has been elected as new vice-president of Costa Rica. He was one of the running mates of Laura Chinchilla, who will be the first woman to hold the country’s presidency. read more »
ANALYSIS - Daniel Ayalon: Israel and the occupation myth - Wall Street Journal, USA
29 Mar 2011 The hatred and violence that killed five members of the Fogel family existed before the Jewish state did. read more »
WJC ANALYSIS - Pinhas Inbari: The resignation of the Turkish military high command: an enigma
15 Aug 2011 Last week, when the Turkish high command resigned; its resignations were happily accepted by Prime Minister Erdogan. It seems that the latest developments in the Middle East caused the military high command to think that they might be asked to follow a policy contradictory in all aspects to everything it has ever represented. read more »
At Vatican, World Jewish Congress leaders call on Pope Benedict XVI to reject assault on Israel
13 Dec 2010 The leadership of the World Jewish Congress was received by Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Friday and raised concern at the growing political assault on Israel's legitimacy. read more »
Ontario provience condemns Israel Apartheid Week
01 Mar 2010 The legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario has condemned 'Israel Apartheid Week' which is taking place in Universities around the world. read more »
Holocaust survivors sue Hungarian railway company in Chicago court
11 Feb 2010 Heirs of Holocaust survivors have filed a lawsuit in Chicago against the Hungarian state railway company MAV over the latter’s alleged involvement in deporting Jews to the Nazi camps during World War II. read more »
Fire damages prominent New York City synagogue
12 Jul 2011 A dramatic fire has devastated a 110-year-old Modern Orthodox synagogue in Manhattan’s Upper East Side that was set to reopen in September after renovations. Police are investigating the cause of the fire. read more »
Israeli among 4 Jewish scientists to win Nobel Prizes
06 Oct 2011 An Israeli scientist won the 2011 Nobel Prize for chemistry, and Jewish scientists also took prizes in physics and medicine. read more »
Cannes film festival bans Danish movie director after anti-Semitic rant
19 May 2011 At a press conference, the controversial Danish film director Lars von Trier had claimed to be a Nazi and to "understand Hitler". European Jewish Congress President Kantor called the remarks "another reminder of the seeming comfort that anti-Semites feel expressing their prejudices in public gatherings." read more »
Many UN members walk out after yet another Ahmadinejad diatribe
04 May 2010 Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again triggered a walkout by Western countries at the United Nations following a blistering attack against the United States and Israel at a nuclear non-proliferation conference in New York. read more »
OPINION - Ronald S. Lauder: How submarines could save Israel
05 Jan 2012 It is time the Israelis took their submarine force and reinvented it as a strategic deterrent against a potentially nuclear-armed Iran and its terrorist surrogates seeking to literally wipe the Jewish state off the map, writes the WJC president in the 'New York Post'. read more »
Ahmadinejad speaks of his determination to "eradicate" Israel
25 Aug 2011 Ahead of Iran's annual Al-Quds [Jerusalem] Day, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has again threatened to destroy the Jewish state, saying his country was determined to "eradicate" Israel, which he called an "infectious tumor" and a "regime full of rascality." read more »
Wiesel calls for inter-faith center instead of mosque near Ground Zero
08 Oct 2010 The Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel has come out in favor of an inter-faith center near the site of the 9/11 terror attacks in Manhattan, rather than the controversial ‘Ground Zero mosque’. read more »
Two million Holocaust-era property records of Jews now searchable online
31 Jan 2012 The Jewish Agency for Israel's Holocaust Era Asset Restitution Taskforce (‘Project HEART’) has announced that its searchable online database of Jewish property records from World War II now contains more than two million records. read more »
Israel blocks activists' ship from reaching Gaza - Associated Press, USA
16 May 2011 The Israeli military on Monday blocked a Malaysian anti-war group's ship from reaching the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. read more »
OPINION - Ronald S. Lauder: Why Israel should become a member of NATO
08 Feb 2011 As a democratic Western country, Israel belongs into the alliance, also in order to protect the values that are becoming increasingly popular in the Arab world, writes the president of the World Jewish Congress in a contribution for the German newspaper 'Die Welt'. read more »
Muslim leaders pay visit to Auschwitz together with survivors, statesmen and Christian clerics
02 Feb 2011 A large delegation of Muslim leaders, Holocaust survivors and European statesmen has visited Auschwitz to pay tribute to the millions killed in the Holocaust. read more »
WJC Vice President Schneier ‘deeply honored’ to be first rabbi hosted by King Hamad of Bahrain
28 Dec 2011 World Jewish Congress (WJC) Vice President Rabbi Marc Schneier was received by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain for talks. The monarch said his country would host a Muslim-Jewish dialog event in 2012. read more »
Ebay cancels ‘sale’ of Yiddishe Momma in UK
23 Jun 2010 The online auction house Ebay has removed an advert for a ‘Yiddishe Momma’ from its website for being in breach of its “human body parts and remains policy”, the British weekly ‘Jewish Chronicle’ reports. read more »
Writer Martin Amis calls Brits “a little anti-Semitic”, alleges double standards on Israel
30 Nov 2010 The British writer Martin Amis has called the UK and the West “a little anti-Semitic” and accused it of expecting “higher moral standards from Israel than its neighbors.” read more »
WATCH LIVE: WJC Governing Board convenes in Jerusalem
20 Jun 2011 On the 75th anniversary of the founding of the world’s foremost political Jewish organization, leaders of Jewish communities from around the world will gather in Jerusalem from 19 to 21 June 2011, for the annual meeting of the Governing Board of the World Jewish Congress. read more »
New Greek government includes ministers of anti-Semitic party
17 Nov 2011 Several members of the extreme-right LAOS party, which has repeatedly been accused of anti-Semitism, have been appointed to Greece's new national unity government led by Prime Minister Lucas Papademos. read more »
Germany bans Turkish IHH charity over Hamas links
12 Jul 2010 Germany's government has banned the Turkish organization IHH following evidence that it collects donations for Hamas-related ‘welfare’ projects in the Gaza Strip. read more »
Two suspects arrested over arson attack against Corfu synagogue
21 Apr 2011 Police have arrested two men suspected of carrying out an arson attack against the synagogue on the Greek island of Corfu on the first day of the Passover holiday. The World Jewish Congress, the Greek Jewish community, and the government of Greece strongly condemned the attack. read more »
In Lebanon, Ahmadinejad calls for Zionists to be sent back to their homelands
14 Oct 2010 Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was scheduled to visit Hezbollah strongholds near the Lebanese border with Israel on Thursday after he was warmly received in Beirut on Wednesday. read more »
France will stand side by side with Israel to oppose Iranian threat, Sarkozy tells WJC leaders
09 Nov 2011 A delegation of the World Jewish Congress led by WJC President Ronald S. Lauder and the president of the French Jewish community umbrella organization CRIF, Richard Prasquier, have had a discussion at the Elysée Palace in Paris with France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy. read more »
World Jewish Congress calls on US authorities to pave way for quick extradition of alleged Nazi war criminal to Serbia
21 Dec 2010 WJC President Ronald S. Lauder has called on courts and authorities in the United States to quickly pave the way for the extradition of the alleged Nazi war criminal Peter Egner, 88, to Serbia, where he is to stand trial on charges of genocide. read more »
Jewish and English 'Defence Leagues' Alliance Sparks Violent Protests in Canada
14 Jan 2011 Demonstration against 'Jewish Defense League' and 'English Defense League' sparks violent confrontation. read more »
Democrats urge Republicans to reject call for end of US aid to Israel
04 Feb 2011 Several Democratic US Senate members have urged Republicans to reject Senator Rand Paul’s call to stop all American foreign aid, including funds for Israel. read more »
Jewish lawmaker becomes Irish justice minister in new government
10 Mar 2011 Alan Shatter, Ireland's only Jewish member of parliament, has been appointed as new Irish justice minister. read more »
Obama: Use flotilla tragedy as an opportunity to make peace in Middle East
04 Jun 2010 Speaking on US television, President Barack Obama has said that despite the raid by Israel on the flotilla attempting to reach Gaza, the peace process had to continue. read more »
Lanzmann documentary on Holocaust to have its premiere on Turkish state TV
17 Jan 2012 Turkish TV station TRT will become the first state broadcaster in the Muslim world to air French director Claude Lanzmann's 1985 film ‘Shoah'. read more »
EU envoys say East Jerusalem should be considered as Palestinian capital
12 Jan 2011 A leaked report has revealed that that the 25 European Union missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah are urging Brussels to treat East Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian state. read more »
Venezuela’s Chávez and Syria’s Assad lash out against Israel
29 Jun 2010 The presidents of Venezuela and Syria, Hugo Chávez and Bashar al-Assad, met in Caracas and accused Israel of spreading terrorism in the Middle East. read more »
Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders meet at inter-faith seminar in Spain
18 Oct 2010 Young professionals of the three monotheistic religions are gathering this week in Seville, Spain, for an inter-religious dialogue conference. read more »
Israel arrests suspected killers of Fogel family in Itamar
18 Apr 2011 Police have arrested two Palestinians - a 19-year-old and his 18-year-old cousin from a nearby village. They are suspected of brutally murdering five members of a Jewish family in Itamar last month. read more »
Ahmadinejad rules out further nuclear concessions; attacks Israel again
08 Jun 2010 At a conference in Istanbul, Turkey, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said his country would not give any more ground on its nuclear program. He also accused Israel of having committed “crimes that have been unprecedented in the history of mankind.” read more »
Israeli study exposes “four basic flaws” of Goldstone report
15 Mar 2010 During the Gaza war, Hamas fighters used children as human shields and established launching pads in the vicinity of mosques and hospitals, according to a detailed report by the Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. read more »
Explosion outside synagogue in Swedish city shocks Jewish community
26 Jul 2010 A firecracker has exploded on the steps of the synagogue in the Swedish city of Malmö, a day after a bomb threat was taped to the building. read more »
Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters wages boycott campaign against Israel
08 Mar 2011 The singer and bassist of the rock band Pink Floyd has become the latest artist to advocate a boycott of Israel, which he accused of operating on a "two-tiered racist system". read more »
OPINION - José María Aznar: If Israel goes down, we all go down
18 Jun 2010 Anger over Gaza is a distraction. We cannot forget that Israel is the West’s best ally in a turbulent region, argues Spain's former Prime Minister José María Aznar in an op-ed for 'The Times'. read more »
WJC leaders shocked at murder of Jewish family by Palestinian terrorists
13 Mar 2011 The WJC leadership expressed outrage at the murder of five members of a Jewish family, including two children and an infant, by Palestinian terrorists in the Samarian settlement of Itamar and called on the Palestinian Authority to do something against the daily incitement against Israel in the media, mosques and schools. read more »
Vodka firm removes billboard ad after allegations of anti-Semitism
23 Nov 2011 The New-York based Wódka Vodka has said it would remove billboards with slogan “Christmas Quality, Hanukkah Pricing” and apologized for the ads after receiving a number of complaints. read more »
Literature professor calls for destruction of Israel at rally in DC
25 Oct 2010 Two Pennsylvania state lawmakers have sent a letter of complaint to the head of Lincoln University in Oxford about a literature professor who made strong anti-Israel statements at a rally in Washington, DC. read more »
World Jewish Congress welcomes American veto of "one-sided" UN resolution
18 Feb 2011 World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder expressed deep appreciation to the United States for vetoing a UN Security Council resolution on Friday which would have unilaterally condemned Israel and termed its settlements in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank as "illegal". read more »
German Foreign Office complicit in Nazi Holocaust, historians prove
25 Oct 2010 A task force of historians commissioned in 2005 by then-Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has found that during the Nazi-era many German diplomats actively supported the genocide of Jews and later covered up their involvement in these crimes read more »
Academic sues British labor union for “harassment” of Jewish members
07 Jul 2011 British academic and pro-Israel activist Ronnie Fraser has filed a lawsuit against the University and College Union (UCU), of which he is a member, claiming it has created a “degrading, humiliating and offensive environment” for its Jewish members. read more »
Anti-Semitism in Britain still at alarming levels, study finds
03 Feb 2011 More than 639 incidents of anti-Jewish incidents were reported last year, the second highest number since 1984, the Community Security Trust (CST) of the British Jewish community has said in its new report. read more »
Amichai Magen: Is Israel a ‘good’ democracy?
02 Feb 2012 When looked at critically, but soberly and fairly, how does Israel fare on measures of democratic quality? read more »
WJC ANALYSIS - Pinhas Inbari: After the Amman talks
30 Jan 2012 Mahmoud Abbas is not in a hurry to make any decisions regarding the future actions of the Palestinians following the preliminary talks with Israel in Jordan, but the inventory of possible measures is not promising. read more »
Jewish leaders urge Europarliamentarians to push for speedy conclusion of Holocaust-era asset restitution
30 Jan 2012 The World Jewish Restitution Organization, of which the World Jewish Congress is a founding member, has conducted a briefing for members of the European Parliament in Brussels on the issue of Holocaust-era assets that have not been repaid. read more »
The Monthly Policy Talk of the ICFR-EU Young Diplomats Forum was hosted by the Municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa
26 Jan 2012 The Monthly Policy Talk of the Israel Council on Foreign Relations-EU Young Diplomats Forum (an initiative co-sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and supported by the Delegation of the EU to Israel, several European embassies, and the Israeli MFA) was hosted by the Municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa in its newly restored Beit Zeirim community center. read more »
Ronald Lauder calls Italian ruling on anti-Semitic cartoon "travesty"
24 Jan 2012 The president of the World Jewish Congress expressed outrage at the conviction of Italian journalist and politician Peppino Caldarola who had written an article criticizing a cartoon that depicts fellow parliamentarian Fiamma Nirenstein, who is Jewish, with a hooked nose, the symbol of fascist Italy, and the Star of David. read more »
Diaspora communities can help with peacemaking, Jewish leaders tell Abbas - JTA, USA
18 Jan 2012 The presidents of the World Jewish Congress and Latin American Jewish Congress expressed hope for progress in Middle East peace at a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. read more »
WJC and Knesset caucus honor Christian leaders for steadfast support to Israel
18 Jan 2012 In Jerusalem, the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus and the World Jewish Congress held the sixth edition of the annual ‘Night to Honor Our Christian Allies’. Awards were presented to US Bishop Daniel Williams and German Jürgen Bühler. read more »
Amichai Magen: On political order and the 'Arab Spring' - Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs
17 Jan 2012 The Arab Spring does not constitute a single phenomenon or a disparate series of unrelated events. Rather, what we are witnessing is the simultaneous unfolding of three grand, historic political processes: democratization; authoritarian adaptation/succession; and state failure read more »
Bahraini Jews hail inter-faith dialogue - Daily Tribune, Bahrain
13 Jan 2012 The Jewish community of Bahrain has hailed recent talks between King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and leading World Jewish Congress Vice President Rabbi Marc Schneier. read more »
Russia expert outlines future role of Moscow in international affairs
11 Jan 2012 Russia expert Prof. Agnieszka Bryc addressed the Israel Council on Foreign Relations, which operates under the auspices of the World Jewish Congress, on the topic 'Where is Russia heading?' read more »
Full Text of Letter from Ronald S. Lauder to President Obama
15 Apr 2010 The full text of the open on US-Israel relations letter from World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder to US President Barak Obama. read more »
WJC PRESIDENT URGES OBAMA TO CHANGE STANCE ON ISRAEL
15 Apr 2010 In an open letter to US President Barack Obama, WJC President Ronald S. Lauder writes that Jews around the world are concerned about 'the dramatic deterioration of diplomatic relations between the United States and Israel' in recent months. read more »
At World Jewish Congress meeting, Peres voices optimism about peace process
31 Aug 2010 Opening an important gathering of the World Jewish Congress in Jerusalem, Israeli President Shimon Peres has called the peace process “the most important task of our time.” read more »
Ronald Lauder laments Polish decision to halt property restitution process
13 Mar 2011 The head of the World Jewish Congress and the World Jewish Restitution Organization, Ronald S. Lauder, has expressed shock and dismay at the announcement by Poland to suspend legislation to provide compensation for former property owners whose assets were confiscated during the Communist period, among them many Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust. read more »
Muslims, Jews warn Europe: Mainstreaming of far-right parties is unacceptable
07 Mar 2011 At a meeting in Paris co-organized by the World Jewish Congress, European Muslim and Jewish leaders have agreed on joint action against extremists and announced plans for a series of public events in European capitals, on Europe Day (9 May). read more »
World Jewish Congress Statement Regarding Israeli Operation Aboard the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla"
01 Jun 2010 The World Jewish Congress expresses sincere regret at the violence and loss of life during the attempt by Israeli forces on 31 May 2010 to take control of a ship that had broken Israel's legally sanctioned naval blockade in international waters. read more »
Lauder and Netanyahu condemn UNESCO vote on Cave of Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb
02 Nov 2010 World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have criticized a decision by the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organization to define two historic Jewish shrines in the West Bank as “Palestinian” sites. read more »
Jewish and Muslim leaders urge European Union heads not to pander to extreme-right
30 May 2011 Bosnian Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric and Brussels Chief Rabbi Albert Guigui have presented a joint declaration signed by 33 leaders of Islamic and Jewish communities in Europe to the presidents of the three main EU institutions, Barroso, Buzek and Van Rompuy. The initiative is co-sponsored by the World Jewish Congress. read more »
After public pressure, Facebook removes page calling for Palestinian uprising against Israel
30 Mar 2011 A fan page posted on the social networking site ‘Facebook’ by radical Palestinian groups has been deleted after the World Jewish Congress and many others called for its removal. read more »
Abbas: Palestinians will not recognize Israel as Jewish state
29 Aug 2011 PA President Mahmoud Abbas has ruled out the possibility of the Palestinians accepting Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. World Jewish Congress Secretary General Dan Diker and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said this showed the true intentions of the Palestinian leadership. read more »
WJC ANALYSIS - Pinhas Inbari: Turkey's true target
12 Sep 2011 Should Turkey succeed in its attempt to assume regional leadership and foster ties with Iran and Syria, Israel will not be the only state to suffer the consequences – the whole of Europe will be threatened. read more »
Lauder criticizes British foreign minister for ignoring Israel's security interests
09 Feb 2011 WJC President Ronald S. Lauder has expressed disappointment about comments made by British Foreign Secretary William Hague on the Middle East and Israel. Lauder called them “one-sided” and added: “Putting undue political pressure on Israel alone, completely neglecting its vital security interests, is counterproductive and unhelpful.” read more »
World Jewish Congress hails Pope’s rejection of Jewish guilt for crucifixion of Jesus
03 Mar 2011 WJC President Ronald S. Lauder has praised Benedict XVI for setting an important marker against anti-Semitism in the Catholic Church. In his new book on the life of Jesus, the Pope explained that references in the Christian New Testament which blame collectively “the Jews” referred to only a few Temple officials at the time. read more »
WJC ANALYSIS - Dan Diker about the Hamas-Shalit deal and its implications
14 Oct 2011 The dramatic prisoner exchange between Israel and the Hamas government in Gaza speaks volumes about the culture of both sides. Israel’s readiness to pay a virtually unimaginable price is a testimony to the living influence of 3,000 years of Jewish law. read more »
Ronald Lauder calls Italian ruling on anti-Semitic cartoon "travesty"
24 Jan 2012 The president of the World Jewish Congress expressed outrage at the conviction of Italian journalist and politician Peppino Caldarola who had written an article criticizing a cartoon that depicts fellow parliamentarian Fiamma Nirenstein, who is Jewish, with a hooked nose, the symbol of fascist Italy, and the Star of David. read more »
World Jewish Congress urges Rome to sideline opponents of Catholic-Jewish reconciliation
24 Oct 2011 Ahead of the interfaith meeting later this week in Assisi, Italy – hosted by Pope Benedict XVI and to be attended by 300 religious leaders from around the Globe – the World Jewish Congress has urged the Vatican to forcefully oppose attempts to blame Jews collectively for the death of Jesus. read more »
Gilat Shalit free - WJC leaders praise Netanyahu for taking "brave decision"
18 Oct 2011 Hamas on Tuesday morning released Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit from more than five years in captivity. World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder called it "wonderful news for his family and for the entire Jewish people." read more »
Statement by WJC Secretary General Michael Schneider on Polish restitution
31 Mar 2011 It has been reported by Polish media that the World Jewish Congress is advocating a boycott of Poland over the government's decision to halt private property restitution. This is untrue. At no point has the WJC proposed a boycott of Poland, nor have we considered or discussed any such measure. We continue to pursue diplomatic initiatives to resolve this important matter. read more »
ANALYSIS - Dan Diker: Justin Bieber and Israel’s missed opportunity
25 Apr 2011 Justin Bieber, the hottest pop music sensation on the planet, just spent a week in Israel. It could have been a public diplomacy bonanza for the Jewish nation-state, argues WJC Secretary General-Designate Dan Diker. read more »
WJC ANALYSIS - Terrorist attacks in the Negev : The inner struggle in Gaza
22 Aug 2011 A well planned terrorist attack claimed the lives of eight Israelis last weekend in southern Israel. The Israeli government put the responsibility for the attacks on a Gaza-based organization called 'The Popular Resistance Committees' and the IDF swiftly proceeded to kill the high ranks of its command in Rafah. What are the Popular Resistance Committees, and why did they carry out the attack at this time? Analysis by Pinhas Inbari. read more »
World Jewish Congress calls for probe of brutal attack against head of Jewish school in Argentina
11 May 2011 The WJC has condemned Monday's vicious anti-Semitic attack against the director of an Orthodox Jewish school in Buenos Aires. Rabbi Moshe Cohen was accosted by a man who yelled “Dirty Jew” and other insults against him and hit him on the head with a nunchaku, an oriental martial-arts weapon. read more »
WJC ANALYSIS - Israel's rights as a nation-state in international diplomacy
20 Sep 2011 World-renowned experts have joined together for a book, jointly published by the World Jewish Congress and the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, which outlines Israel’s rights as a nation-state in international diplomacy and refutes all the major claims made against the Jewish state. read more »
WJC ANALYSIS - Pinhas Inbari: The resignation of the Turkish military high command: an enigma
15 Aug 2011 Last week, when the Turkish high command resigned; its resignations were happily accepted by Prime Minister Erdogan. It seems that the latest developments in the Middle East caused the military high command to think that they might be asked to follow a policy contradictory in all aspects to everything it has ever represented. read more »
At Vatican, World Jewish Congress leaders call on Pope Benedict XVI to reject assault on Israel
13 Dec 2010 The leadership of the World Jewish Congress was received by Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Friday and raised concern at the growing political assault on Israel's legitimacy. read more »
OPINION - Ronald S. Lauder: How submarines could save Israel
05 Jan 2012 It is time the Israelis took their submarine force and reinvented it as a strategic deterrent against a potentially nuclear-armed Iran and its terrorist surrogates seeking to literally wipe the Jewish state off the map, writes the WJC president in the 'New York Post'. read more »
OPINION - Ronald S. Lauder: Why Israel should become a member of NATO
08 Feb 2011 As a democratic Western country, Israel belongs into the alliance, also in order to protect the values that are becoming increasingly popular in the Arab world, writes the president of the World Jewish Congress in a contribution for the German newspaper 'Die Welt'. read more »
WJC Vice President Schneier ‘deeply honored’ to be first rabbi hosted by King Hamad of Bahrain
28 Dec 2011 World Jewish Congress (WJC) Vice President Rabbi Marc Schneier was received by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain for talks. The monarch said his country would host a Muslim-Jewish dialog event in 2012. read more »
WATCH LIVE: WJC Governing Board convenes in Jerusalem
20 Jun 2011 On the 75th anniversary of the founding of the world’s foremost political Jewish organization, leaders of Jewish communities from around the world will gather in Jerusalem from 19 to 21 June 2011, for the annual meeting of the Governing Board of the World Jewish Congress. read more »
France will stand side by side with Israel to oppose Iranian threat, Sarkozy tells WJC leaders
09 Nov 2011 A delegation of the World Jewish Congress led by WJC President Ronald S. Lauder and the president of the French Jewish community umbrella organization CRIF, Richard Prasquier, have had a discussion at the Elysée Palace in Paris with France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy. read more »
World Jewish Congress calls on US authorities to pave way for quick extradition of alleged Nazi war criminal to Serbia
21 Dec 2010 WJC President Ronald S. Lauder has called on courts and authorities in the United States to quickly pave the way for the extradition of the alleged Nazi war criminal Peter Egner, 88, to Serbia, where he is to stand trial on charges of genocide. read more »
WJC leaders shocked at murder of Jewish family by Palestinian terrorists
13 Mar 2011 The WJC leadership expressed outrage at the murder of five members of a Jewish family, including two children and an infant, by Palestinian terrorists in the Samarian settlement of Itamar and called on the Palestinian Authority to do something against the daily incitement against Israel in the media, mosques and schools. read more »
World Jewish Congress welcomes American veto of "one-sided" UN resolution
18 Feb 2011 World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder expressed deep appreciation to the United States for vetoing a UN Security Council resolution on Friday which would have unilaterally condemned Israel and termed its settlements in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank as "illegal". read more »
Iran’s leader: Tehran will aid anyone confronting "cancer" Israel - Associated Press, USA
03 Feb 2012 Iran will help any nation or group that confronts the “cancer” Israel, the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday. read more »
Germany has immunity from lawsuits brought by foreign Nazi victims, international court rules
03 Feb 2012 The International Court of Justice in the Dutch city of The Hague has confirmed that Germany has legal immunity from being sued in foreign courts by victims of Nazi atrocities committed during World War II. read more »
Leading official of Hungarian extremist party accuses Jews of colonializing country
03 Feb 2012 In an interview with the 'Jewish Chronicle', Márton Gyöngyösi, deputy leader of the far-right Jobbik party, openly questioned the Holocaust. He also claimed that Jews were colonizing Hungary and that Israeli's treatment of the Palestinians was like a "Nazi system". read more »
Amsterdam rabbi reinstated after homosexuality row - Jerusalem Post, Israel
03 Feb 2012 The Orthodox Jewish community of Amsterdam has reinstated its chief rabbi, Aryeh Ralbag, after briefly suspending him last month for having co-signed a statement in which homosexuality was described as an inclination from which one can be “healed.” read more »
Australian flag-maker says swastika will stay despite Jewish anger - News.com.au, Australia
03 Feb 2012 A flag-maker says Nazi flags flying outside his home will not be removed despite calls by members of the Melbourne Jewish community. read more »
Netherlands returns two paintings looted by Nazi leader Göring to Jewish heir - Bloomberg, USA
03 Feb 2012 The Dutch government said today it will return two paintings that were looted more than 70 years ago by Hermann Göring for his country estate to the descendants of a Jewish antiques dealer in Paris. read more »
Austrian president cancels award to far-right leader over anti-Semitic remarks - Haaretz, Israel
03 Feb 2012 Prestigious award is retracted after Austrian daily quotes Freedom Party leader Heinz Straché as saying, 'We are the new Jews,' in response to protesters who heckled guests arriving at a ball coinciding with International Holocaust Remembrance Day. read more »
American Jewish leaders offended by Georgia preacher's ceremony - Associated Press, USA
03 Feb 2012 Jewish leaders are criticizing a ceremony that involved a controversial church leader being wrapped in a Torah scroll and exalted as a "king" to the applause of his parishioners. read more »
US rabbi admits Torah tales were a fraud - New York Times, USA
03 Feb 2012 Rabbi Youlus has pleaded guilty to fraud, admitting to a scheme to steal money while claiming to be saving and restoring historic Torahs. One of those who was initially dubious was Menachem Z. Rosensaft, general counsel of the World Jewish Congress. read more »
Shin Bet chief: Iran trying to hit Israeli targets in response to attacks on nuclear scientists - Haaretz, Israel
03 Feb 2012 Iran was trying to strike Israeli targets around the world in a bid to stop the assassinations of its nuclear scientists, the head of the Israel's internal security service, Yoram Cohen, has said. read more »
Full Text of Letter from Ronald S. Lauder to President Obama
15 Apr 2010 The full text of the open on US-Israel relations letter from World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder to US President Barak Obama. read more »
OPINION - José María Aznar: If Israel goes down, we all go down
18 Jun 2010 Anger over Gaza is a distraction. We cannot forget that Israel is the West’s best ally in a turbulent region, argues Spain's former Prime Minister José María Aznar in an op-ed for 'The Times'. read more »
Radical Muslim poet forms anti-Zionist party in Sweden
22 Jan 2010 Mohamed Omar, a Swedish poet and commentator, has announced the foundation of a new political party whose main aim is to combat Zionism and which welcomes supporters from both ends of the political spectrum. read more »
OPINION - Leon de Winter: Anti-Semitism is Salonfähig Again - Wall Street Journal Europe
14 Jun 2010 Why do people and organizations that present themselves as progressive team up with reactionary Muslims, asks the Dutch novelist Leon de Winter in an op-ed published in the 'Wall Street Journal Europe'. read more »
Actor Jon Voight attacks Obama over Israel
24 Jun 2010 The American actor Jon Voight has launched a blistering attack on President Barack Obama, accusing him of putting Israel in harm’s way. read more »
Louis Farrakhan calls Jews the “worst enemy” of African Americans
30 Jun 2010 The controversial minister of the Nation of Islam movement, Louis Farrakhan, has written a letter to the leaders of more than a dozen major US Jewish organizations in which he claims that Jews had caused Blacks damage for centuries. read more »
Saudi religious leaders issue fatwa against terrorism
18 Jun 2010 The highest body of Muslim clerics in Saudi Arabia has issued a important religious ruling against terrorism, saying that committing terrorist acts, and even funding them, was against Islamic law. read more »
OPINION - Menachem Z. Rosensaft: Poland's foreign minister misspeaks on restitution
29 Mar 2011 By disparaging the US government's support of demands that Poland compensate Jews for property stolen from them during the Holocaust, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski exacerbated the firestorm created by his government's peremptory decision to walk away from long-promised restitution legislation for spurious economic reasons. read more »
Oliver Stone revives anti-Semitic stereotypes
26 Jul 2010 American movie director Oliver Stone has alleged that Jewish control of the media was preventing an open debate about the Holocaust. He also alleged that the Jewish lobby in Washington was controlling US foreign policy. read more »
Head of small Jewish community in Germany receives death threats from Islamist
21 Jan 2011 A German Islamist has reportedly issued death threats against Wolfgang Seibert, the head of the small Jewish community of Pinneberg, near Hamburg. read more »
WJC and CER Denounce Anti-Semitic Statements Made by Greek Orthodox Church Officials
23 Dec 2010 The World Jewish Congress (WJC) and the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) have called on the Orthodox Church in Greece to condemn vitriolic, anti-Semitic public statements recently made by Metropolitan of Piraeus Seraphim and Metropolitan Anthimus of Salonika. read more »
Hungarian Jews demonstrate against rising anti-Semitism and extremism
07 Apr 2010 More than 1,000 Jews marched through central Budapest in protest against a series of anti-Semitic incidents and the worsening political climate in the run-up to parliamentary elections next week. read more »
Star of David discovered atop Iran’s national airline headquarters
01 Dec 2010 Officials in Iran are upset after discovering the outline of a Star of David atop the roof of the headquarters of Iran Air, the Islamic republic’s national airline, the Arab news channel ‘al-Arabiya’ reports. read more »
Nazi war crimes suspect dies before trial begins in Germany
06 Jul 2010 A former SS sergeant who was under investigation for Nazi war crimes has died before he could be brought to trial in Germany. read more »
Media mogul Murdoch decries “soft war” against Israel
20 Oct 2010 Rupert Murdoch, the Australian-born CEO of News Corp who owns a range of TV networks and newspapers including ‘Fox’ and the ‘New York Post’, has decried the "ongoing war against the Jews" and demanded an end to efforts to isolate Israel. read more »
Bishop Williamson lashes out against the Jews again
19 Oct 2011 The dissident Catholic bishop Richard Williamson, who caused an outcry in 2009 after publicly denying the Holocaust in a TV interview whilst being readmitted into the fold of the Catholic Church by the Vatican, has publicly attacked Pope Benedict XVI for absolving Jews of the age-old Christian charge of committing ‘deicide’. read more »
Delta criticized for helping to implement Saudi travel restrictions on Jews
24 Jun 2011 Jews and passengers carrying any non-Islamic article of faith such as bibles will reportedly not be able to fly code-share flights from the US to Saudi Arabia under Delta Air Lines' new partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines. WJC Secretary General Dan Diker urged Delta not to become “complicit with what appears to be an anti-Semitic policy.” read more »
Campaigners call on American shoppers to buy Israeli goods on 30 March to counter boycott movement
25 Feb 2011 Pro-Israel groups in the United States are urging supporters to buy Israeli goods on 30 March in order to counter a global anti-Israel boycott called for that day. read more »
Lauder and Netanyahu condemn UNESCO vote on Cave of Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb
02 Nov 2010 World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have criticized a decision by the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organization to define two historic Jewish shrines in the West Bank as “Palestinian” sites. read more »
US Congressmen rebuke Obama administration for stark criticism of Israel
16 Mar 2010 The sharp criticism by the Obama administration of Israel’s announcement to build 1,600 new housing units in east Jerusalem has been rebuked by a number of US senators and representatives. read more »
“I am an anti-Semite”, famous Greek composer admits
10 Feb 2011 The acclaimed Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, 85, has openly admitted that he is an "anti-Semite and anti-Zionist." In a TV interview he blamed American Jews for being “behind the world economic crisis”. read more »
Albania opposed to Palestinian unilateralism, PM Sali Berisha tells gathering in Jerusalem
22 Nov 2011 In a speech before the Israel Council on Foreign Relations, which operates under the auspices of the World Jewish Congress, Albania's Prime Minister Barisha on Monday declared that his government was categorically opposed to attempts to secure recognition of a Palestinian state in the United Nations. read more »
At Vatican, bishops call for legal steps against Israeli occupation
25 Oct 2010 A synod of bishops representing Catholic and other churches in the Middle East has called on the international community to take "the necessary legal steps to put an end to the occupation of the different Arab territories" and warned Israel not to use the Bible to justify any "injustices" against the Palestinians. read more »
Pro-Palestinian protestors prevent unloading of Israeli ship in Californian port
21 Jun 2010 On Sunday, around 500 anti-Israel protesters formed a picket line at the port of Oakland, California, and temporarily prevented an incoming Israeli ship from being unloaded. read more »
Overwhelmingly negative attitudes toward Jews in Islamic countries
09 Feb 2010 A survey conducted by Pew Research in 25 countries has found that the populations of nearly all Muslim countries hold very negative attitudes toward Jews. read more »
Several councils in Scotland adopt boycott of Israel
24 May 2011 A Scottish municipality has imposed a ban on any new books by Israeli authors from its libraries, while another is calling on its citizens to boycott of Israeli goods. "A place that boycotts books is not far from a place that burns them," Israel's ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, said. read more »
Bishop Williamson lashes out against the Jews again
19 Oct 2011 The dissident Catholic bishop Richard Williamson, who caused an outcry in 2009 after publicly denying the Holocaust in a TV interview whilst being readmitted into the fold of the Catholic Church by the Vatican, has publicly attacked Pope Benedict XVI for absolving Jews of the age-old Christian charge of committing ‘deicide’. read more »
Jewish neighborhoods in London affected by rioting
10 Aug 2011 Continued rioting and shop looting in the British capital is increasingly affecting heavily Jewish neighborhoods. The Board of Deputies of British Jews expressed shock over the rioting and called for unity. read more »
Iran stays execution of woman convicted of adultery following global outcry
04 Nov 2010 Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for allegedly having committed adultery, escaped her execution on Wednesday after strong international protests. read more »
Israeli raid on Gaza-bound ships triggers world-wide condemnation
01 Jun 2010 The Israeli government has defended the raid on a Gaza-bound ship carrying 600 pro-Palestinian campaigners in which nine people were killed and many more injured. read more »
UK student leader subjected to barrage of anti-Semitic insults at rally
01 Feb 2011 Aaron Porter, the head of the Britain’s National Union of Students, had to be escorted to safety by police after being surrounded by radical protesters shouting anti-Semitic insults at him at a rally. read more »
More than 40 killed and 13,000 evacuated in “worst disaster in Israel's history"
03 Dec 2010 A devastating forest fire on the Carmel Mountain near Haifa in northern Israel has killed at least 40 people who were trying to evacuate a prison. Israel is receiving foreign aid, including from many countries in the region, to battle the fire. 13,000 people in the area have so far been evacuated. read more »
OPINION - Paul Peter Jesep: John Demjanjuk in a broader context
13 May 2011 Ukraine has been an ethnic, social, religious, and political crossroads. Its rich heritage has yet to be fully and successfully integrated in a post Imperial and Soviet age. This is especially true when it comes to Jewish-Ukrainian relations that too often harbor fear, distrust, and misunderstanding. read more »
Norwegian politician sparks outrage after publicly denying Holocaust
22 Mar 2011 Members of Norway’s Labor Party have called for the resignation of one of the movement’s lawmakers who denied the existence of the Nazi gas chambers and accused Holocaust survivors of exaggerating their stories. read more »
Texan House speaker under fire from his own party for being Jewish
18 Nov 2010 Joe Straus, the Republican speaker of the Texan House of Representatives who is seeking re-election, has come under attack for being Jewish. read more »
DNA test concludes that Adolf Hitler had Jewish, North African ancestors
24 Aug 2010 Nazi leader Adolf Hitler possibly had Jewish as well as African ancestors, according to a report by the British newspaper ‘Daily Express’, citing new DNA tests done in Belgium. read more »
Isi Leibler: An open letter to President Obama
21 Apr 2011 Dear Mr. President, permit me to explain why, despite your assurances, most Israelis still harbor profound anxiety about your attitude toward our security. read more »
Israel says it will turn away Gaza 'Freedom Flotilla'
26 May 2010 Israel has said it will block a fleet of nine ships carrying international activists and supplies from reaching the Gaza Strip. read more »
‘NaziSexyMouse’ poster causes outrage in Poland
12 Jul 2010 A huge poster of a Nazi swastika behind a naked pin-up model clad only in a Mickey Mouse-mask and stretched across a building has stirred controversy in Poland. read more »
BBC defends TV documentary on Israeli flotilla raid as fair and balanced
19 Aug 2010 The editors of the BBC television program ‘Panorama’ issued a strong rebuff to viewers claiming that a report into the Israeli flotilla raid in May, entitled ‘Death in the Med and broadcast on Monday, had been biased in Israel’s favor. read more »
Greek Priest Issues 'Clarification' after Controversial Anti-Semitic Comments
14 Jan 2011 A Greek priest who caused outrage with anti-Semitic remarks during a television interview has issued a letter of clarification, claiming that it is Zionism and not Jews that he hates. read more »
Ahmadinejad enacts boycott law against ‘Jewish’ corporations
01 Jul 2010 Iran has banned ‘Zionist' companies , including non-Israeli ones, from doing business in Iran, Israel’s ‘Army Radio’ has reported. read more »
Lemba tribe in southern Africa has Jewish roots, genetic tests reveal
08 Mar 2010 Genetic tests carried out by British scientists have revealed that many of the Lemba tribesmen in southern Africa have Jewish origins, according to a report by the BBC. read more »
Democratic US senator attacks Obama’s stance on Israel
26 Apr 2010 The senior US senator from the state of New York, Charles Schumer, has attacked the Obama administration’s relations with Israel. read more »
Dozens of Nobel Prize laureates condemn boycott campaign against Israel
02 Nov 2010 Under the auspices of the initiative Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, 38 Nobel peace prize laureates have signed a declaration condemning international attempts to boycott, divest from or sanction Israeli academics, institutions, and research or training centers. read more »
More rejection of Jews and Muslims in Germany than in other European nations
02 Dec 2010 According to a study conducted by social scientists, anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim sentiments are far more wide-spread in Germany than in other western European countries. read more »
Berlusconi fuels speculation about Israeli military strike against Iran
28 Jun 2010 Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi reportedly said that he and fellow world leaders "believe absolutely" that Israel may decide to take military action against Iran to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. read more »
Winona Ryder accuses Mel Gibson of calling her an "oven dodger"
17 Dec 2010 The Jewish actress Winona Ryder has claimed that American actor and film director Mel Gibson had made "anti-Semitic and homophobic" remarks long before he was caught on tape doing so in 2006. read more »
Palestinian Authority ‘study’ claims Kotel is not a historic Jewish site
24 Nov 2010 Israel has called on the Palestinian leadership to publicly disassociate itself from a “scientific study” by a Palestinian Authority official which denies Jewish claims to the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site. read more »
Rachel's Tomb and Cave of the Patriarchs declared as Palestinian sites by UN cultural body
09 Nov 2010 The UN's cultural body, UNESCO, has angered Jews around the world by recognizing two ancient Jews sites as “Palestinian”. At the beginning of November UNESCO adopted proposals, from Arab member states, to recognize Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs as “an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territories”. read more »
Australian Jews complain to broadcaster about TV series ‘The Promise’
10 Jan 2012 The Executive Council of Australian Jewry has sent a letter of complaint to the Australian broadcaster SBS about the British-made television series ‘The Promise’, which it says conveys anti-Jewish stereotypes. read more »
Speech by José María Aznar to the World Jewish Congress: Defending Israel to Defend Ourselves
06 Sep 2010 Israel today is nothing less than essential to us because it is one of the few nations willing to pay a price for its survival, said former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar in a speech to delegates at the WJC Governing Board in Jerusalem, on 1 September 2010. read more »
Saudi prince offers $900,000 for capture of Israeli soldier
31 Oct 2011 A member of Saudi Arabia's royal family has offered a $900,000 reward for the capture of an Israeli soldier. read more »
Doubts about claim by former British PoW that he smuggled himself into Auschwitz
11 Apr 2011 The claim made by 92-year-old Briton Denis Avey in his new book that he swapped uniforms with a Jewish inmate at Auschwitz when being held at a PoW camp nearby have been questioned following the publication of an investigation by British journalists. The World Jewish Congress has called on Avey's publishers to check whether his story is true. read more »
Spanish Jews outraged at acquittal of neo-Nazis by High Court
06 Jun 2011 The Jewish Community Federation of Spain has strongly criticized the decision by the High Court to quash a lower court’s decision which had found four persons linked to the Kalki bookshop in Barcelona guilty of incitement to hatred and anti-Semitism. Israel's Embassy in Madrid said the ruling was reason for "sadness and concern." read more »
British trade union federation launches campaign against Israeli products from West Bank
12 Apr 2010 The Trades Union Congress in the UK has launched a campaign calling for an import ban for goods produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. read more »
Planned Bollywood movie ‘Dear Friend Hitler’ angers Indian Jews
16 Jun 2010 Plans by filmmakers in India to make a film on Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler that will claim that the despot loved India and that he indirectly contributed to its independence have outraged members of the Jewish community. read more »
Iranians attack “racist logo” of 2012 Olympic Games in London
01 Mar 2011 The National Olympic Committee of Iran has accused the organizers of the 2012 Olympic Games in London of racism, saying their logo spelled the word ‘Zion’. read more »
Holocaust-era database of 'Joint' now searchable online
03 May 2011 The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is making a collection of its historic records and photographs from the Holocaust period available online. The website enables the public to search a database of more than 500,000 names and to view and identify photos from 14 countries where the organization operated during and after the war. read more »
A third of Nazis' war effort funded with money stolen from Jews, study finds
10 Nov 2010 German dictator Adolf Hitler's Nazi party “actively worked to destroy Europe's Jews financially,” and nearly a third of the German war effort was paid for with money stolen from Jews, according a new study about the role of the German Finance Ministry during the ‘Third Reich’. read more »
SPECIAL REPORT: Jerusalem Arabs withhold support over unilateral Palestinian state, new survey finds
09 May 2011 Less than a third of the Arab population of east Jerusalem prefers to cast its lot with any future Palestinian state, according to researcher David Pollock. The former senior adviser on the Middle East at the US State Department presented his findings at a roundtable discussion at the Institute of the World Jewish Congress. read more »
US in grip of Israel lobby, Helen Thomas alleges
21 Mar 2011 Former White House reporter Helen Thomas, 90, has said she knew exactly what she was doing when she said on camera that Jews "should get the hell out of Palestine." read more »
Jean-Marie Le Pen parts from political scene with anti-Semitic slur
17 Jan 2011 Marine Le Pen has been elected as leader of the extreme-right and xenophobic National Front movement, succeeding her father Jean-Marie, who made another statement against Jews in his farewell speech. read more »
World Jewish Congress denounces Greek judiciary for siding with notorious anti-Semite
20 Sep 2010 As three Greek human rights activists are to go on trial for speaking out against judges who acquitted the extreme-right politician Kostas Plevris, the World Jewish Congress has called on the European Parliament to send an official observer to watch the trial in Athens. read more »
Arizona Congreswoman May Have Been Targeted for Being Jewish
10 Jan 2011 The US Department of Homeland Security has listed Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords' Jewish faith as being a possible factor in her shooting. read more »
Iranian official defends stoning as UN committee expresses “deep concern” at human rights situation
19 Nov 2010 A UN General Assembly committee adopted a resolution strongly criticizing “serious human rights violations in Iran.” Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of Iran's Human Rights Council, defended the practice of stoning people to death read more »
UK government appoints first-ever envoy for Holocaust-related issues
14 Jun 2010 The British government has appointed a former ambassador as its first-ever envoy to deal with post-Holocaust issues. read more »
Nazi victims want EU to put pressure on Vatican Bank over looted assets
27 Oct 2010 Holocaust survivors have asked the European Commission to investigate claims that the Vatican’s financial arm laundered money stolen from Jews and others in the former Yugoslavia during World War II. read more »
Helen Thomas makes more anti-Semitic remarks
06 Dec 2010 The ex-dean of the White House press corps, 90-year-old former Hearst Newspapers columnist and reporter Helen Thomas, has alleged that "Congress, the White House, Hollywood and Wall Street are owned by the Zionists." The statements caused her former university in Michigan to drop an award named after her. read more »
Israel rejects Obama proposal for pre-1967 borders to form basis of Mideast peace deal
20 May 2011 In a major policy speech on the Middle East, US President Obama said the border lines which existed prior to 1967 should form the basis of a Middle East peace deal, with mutually agreed territorial swaps. Israel’s PM Netanyahu and the World Jewish Congress called these borders “indefensible” and criticized Obama. read more »
Anti-Israel campaigners hail UK leader’s decision to cut ties with Jewish National Fund
30 May 2011 British Prime Minister David Cameron has removed his name from a list of patrons of the British branch of the Jewish National Fund. read more »
Columbia University under investigation for anti-Jewish discrimination
06 Oct 2011 The US Department of Education is investigating Columbia University for allegedly discriminating against a Jewish student read more »
Hezbollah chief threatens to conquer Israeli territory
16 Feb 2011 Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Shiite movement Hezbollah in Lebanon, has threatened to occupy northern Israel in case of war with the Jewish state. read more »
German neo-Nazi legislator suspended after calling Israel “Jewish terror state”
18 Jun 2010 A member of a state legislature in Germany has been suspended for six months after calling Israel a “Jewish terror state” and speaking of a “thriving Holocaust industry”. read more »
Israel discusses rabbis’ arrest and endorsement of book justifying the killing of non-Jews
06 Jul 2011 President Shimon Peres and Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar have met in Jerusalem to discuss the controversy surrounding the book ‘Kings Torah’ and the temporary arrest of two rabbis. Both men agreed to join forces "to preserve the rule of the law and protect the honor of the Torah." read more »
Anti-Semitic incidents in Canada at all time high
26 Feb 2010 Anti-Semitic incidents in Canada rose to record levels in 2009, according to a just released annual audit. read more »
Menachem Rosensaft - Transferring memory: The task of children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors
08 Aug 2011 Many if not most children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors live with ghosts. We are haunted much in the way a cemetery is haunted. We bear within us the shadows and echoes of an anguished dying we never experienced or witnessed. Today, the principal responsibility for transmitting the survivors’ legacy of remembrance into the future has shifted to their children and grandchildren. read more »
Children’s song endorsing martyrdom gaining popularity in Arab world
23 Jun 2010 A music video with a song sung by a Palestinian children's choir endorsing martyrdom in the fight against Israel is becoming increasingly popular in the Arab world. read more »
Father of Swedish queen made fortune from seized Jewish factory - TV report
02 Dec 2010 A Swedish TV documentary accused the late father of German-born Queen Silvia of Sweden, Walter Sommerlath, of making a fortune from a factory seized from its Jewish owners by the Nazis. read more »
UN vindicates Israel over deadly exchange of fire with Lebanese troops
05 Aug 2010 The peacekeeping force of the United Nations in southern Lebanon has confirmed that Israeli forces were pruning trees located on their own territory when an exchange of fire with Lebanese troops took place. read more »
Former bishop in Italy alleges “Zionist attack” against Catholic Church
13 Apr 2010 Giacomo Babini, a retired Catholic bishop in Italy, has reportedly suggested that “Zionists” were behind the current storm of accusations over sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests that has been roiling the Vatican. read more »
Iranian swimmer again refuses to compete with Israeli athlete at World Championships
26 Jul 2011 At the Shanghai FINA World Championships, Mohammed Alirezaei refused to contest a 100-meter breaststroke heat evidently because of the presence of an Israeli athlete. He had also done so at the Bejing Olympics in 2008. read more »
Germany indicts former SS guard at Belzec camp
30 Jul 2010 Prosecutors in Germany have filed charges against a 90-year-old man for allegedly helping to murder 430,000 Jews during World War II. read more »
Initiative to ban circumcision in San Francisco condemned by Jewish groups
19 Nov 2010 Jewish organizations have condemned a proposal to outlaw ritual circumcision of minors in San Francisco. read more »
Congresswomen urge federal funding for homecare of Shoah survivors in US
05 Aug 2011 Holocaust survivors living in the United States would receive federal funds designed to help them age at home, rather than having to move to an institution, according to a new bill drafted by the Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her Republican counterpart Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. read more »
Eizenstat urges Poland to reconsider suspension of restitution bill
17 Mar 2011 The US government has expressed "disappointment" about Poland’s decision to suspend a planned law providing for the restitution and compensation for private property seized between 1939 and 1989. read more »
Nazi-style outfits worn by dance troupe on Australian talent show cause stir
18 Nov 2010 An episode of the popular Australian talent show ‘The X Factor’ featured the American pop singer Ke$ha performing her hit single ‘We R Who We R’ with a dance troupe wearing costumes and caps similar to those worn by Nazi SS fighters during World War II. read more »
Lars Von Trier to stop speaking in public following charges over Hitler comments
06 Oct 2011 Danish film director Lars Von Trier has said he will not speak to the media ever again due to being investigated for justification of war crimes over statements he made about Adolf Hitler and Jews during the film festival in Cannes. read more »
Synagogue in Maryland attacked by vandals
28 Jul 2010 Swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans including the Nazi slogans “Arbeit macht frei” (Work will set you free) and “Juden raus” (Jews out) were spray-painted on the outside of a synagogue in Olney, Maryland. read more »
Ahmadinejad survives assassination attempt in Iran
04 Aug 2010 Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has reportedly escaped an attempt to kill him in the western city of Hamadan when a hand grenade exploded in a vehicle accompanying his convoy. read more »
Hillary Clinton urges American Jews to campaign for release of US aid worker from Cuban jail
14 Jul 2010 US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has urged Jewish groups to join the campaign for the release of Alan P. Gross, an American government contractor who provided support for Cuba’s small Jewish community. read more »
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange accuses journalists of "Jewish conspiracy"
02 Mar 2011 The founder of the controversial internet platform 'WikiLeaks', Julian Assange, has accused British journalists of a "Jewish conspiracy" against him, to deprive him of funds by Jewish donors read more »
Fashion house Dior suspends its chief designer over alleged anti-Jewish remarks
27 Feb 2011 The French fashion house Dior has suspended its chief designer John Galliano after he was briefly held by police for allegedly making anti-Semitic and other racist comments in a Paris bar and attacking a couple. read more »
Computer worm designed to hamper Iran's nuclear program, say experts
16 Nov 2010 Research by the cyber security company Symantec on the Stuxnet computer worm has concluded that it was specifically programmed to sabotage electronic equipment used in Iran for uranium enrichment. read more »
US Vice President Biden reportedly prevented Pollard clemency
05 Oct 2011 The US Vice President Joseph Biden is reported to have prevented President Obama allowing clemency for Jonathan Pollard. read more »
Comments by Nixon and Kissinger on Jews and other minorities cause stir
14 Dec 2010 Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, today 87, said in 1973 that a possible genocide of Soviet Jewry would not be of concern to America’s foreign policy, newly released tapes from the Nixon years reveal. read more »
Report: Obama wants Israel to halt building in east Jerusalem for four months
01 Apr 2010 US President Barack Obama reportedly asked Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu to freeze construction in the eastern part of Jerusalem for a period of four months in order to renew peace talks with the Palestinians. read more »
Venezuelan Jews protest promotion of ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ on state radio
27 May 2011 The Jewish Community Confederation of Venezuela (CAIV) has lodged a protest with the country’s attorney general in which it denounced the promotion of the anti-Semitic pamphlet ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ by a state-owned radio channel. read more »
At AIPAC conference, Obama clarifies 1967 border remarks
23 May 2011 US President Barack Obama has told a gathering in Washington DC that his call last week for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations based on the pre-1967 lines did not mean the future state of Palestine would have those exact borders. read more »
Obama tries to assuage Jewish concerns over US Middle East policy
22 Apr 2010 In a letter addressed to Alan Solow, the chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, US President Barack Obama has said his administration’s commitment to Israel remained “unshakable.” read more »
Facebook rejects plea by Shoah survivors to remove offensive pages
29 Jul 2011 The popular social networking website Facebook has turned down a request by 21 Holocaust survivors to remove pages on which users can currently espouse Holocaust denial. read more »
OPINION - José María Aznar: If Israel goes down, we all go down
18 Jun 2010 Anger over Gaza is a distraction. We cannot forget that Israel is the West’s best ally in a turbulent region, argues Spain's former Prime Minister José María Aznar in an op-ed for 'The Times'. read more »
Conviction of Holocaust-denying Catholic bishop upheld by German appeals court
11 Jul 2011 A court in the German city of Regensburg has upheld a lower court’s conviction of Richard Williamson, 71, one of four bishops of the ultra-conservative Catholic breakaway group Society of St. Pius X, for denying the Holocaust in a 2008 interview with Swedish television. read more »
Woman who kicked out Israeli tourists of Aqaba restaurant gets praise in Jordan
30 Nov 2010 A Jordanian woman has gained fame in her country after refusing to receive a group of Israeli tourists at her restaurant in Aqaba, Jordan’s Red Sea resort bordering the Israeli city of Eilat. read more »
Jewish hockey player sues team and coaches over alleged anti-Semitism
26 Jan 2011 Jason Bailey, a professional American ice hockey player, is suing the Californian team Anaheim Ducks in court, claiming that coaches of one of its affiliate teams subjected him repeatedly to harassment and made anti-Semitic remarks. read more »
Report records shocking rise of violent anti-Semitism in western Europe in 2009
12 Apr 2010 A new survey by the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism in Tel Aviv has revealed a strong surge in violent anti-Semitism in 2009, which in western Europe has now reached the highest level in decades. read more »
Memorial to St. Louis passengers unveiled in Canada
21 Jan 2011 In Halifax, the Canadian Jewish Congress has unveiled a monument commemorating the Canadian authorities’ fateful decision in 1939 to turn away a steamship carrying Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. read more »
Canadian student files suit over anti-Semitic harassment at a Toronto university
30 Mar 2011 A Jewish student has filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal against York University in Toronto, in which he alleges that the college had actively legitimized an anti-Jewish atmosphere on campus. read more »
Supremacist Website Publishes List of Italian Jews
14 Jan 2011 The US white supremacist website 'Stormfront' has published a list of "influential" Italian Jews. read more »
Sharansky lambasts proposed conversion law as divisive
13 Jul 2010 Natan Sharansky, the chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, has expressed deep disappointment following the approval by a Knesset committee of a controversial bill on conversion to Judaism. read more »
Fiamma Nirenstein laments “violent and shocking episode” in Belgium
30 Nov 2011 Following this month’s attack on a 13-year-old Jewish girl, the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians has called on Belgium to do more against growing anti-Semitism. read more »
Turkey and Israel escalate war of words
07 Apr 2010 In response to new verbal attacks on Israel by Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said the Turkish leader was "slowly turning into a Gaddafi or a Hugo Chavez.” read more »
Shoah survivors protest against Boca Raton golf tournament
07 Feb 2011 Holocaust survivors are set to picket a golf tournament in South Florida sponsored by the international insurance company Allianz. read more »
Typist of ‘Schindler’s List’ who helped to save 1,200 fellow Jews dies at 91
10 Jun 2011 Mietek Pemper, the man who typed up Oskar Schindler's famous list which helped save over 1,000 Jews from the Holocaust, has died in Augsburg, in southern Germany. read more »
Syria and Iran to support Lebanon against Israeli “aggression”
12 Aug 2010 As the US halts military aid to Lebanon following the deadly exchange of fire with Israel on the border, Iran and Syria have pledged to support Lebanon militarily against “the Zionist regime”. read more »
Over 20,000 Nazi-looted artifacts now searchable online
18 Oct 2010 More than 20,000 artworks stolen by the Nazis from Jews in occupied Belgium and France during World War II can now be searched in an online catalog. read more »
Israeli volleyball team assailed by protestors in Turkey
26 Jul 2010 An Israeli women's volleyball team was assailed by protestors while playing against Serbia in the Turkish capital Ankara on Saturday. read more »
Malaysian soccer federation says sorry to Israeli player for suffering anti-Semitic abuse
03 Aug 2011 The Football Association of Malaysia has offered a qualified apology to the leading English soccer club Chelsea FC and its Israeli player Yossi Benayoun for any anti-Semitic abuse suffered during a recent match in the capital Kuala Lumpur. read more »
Israel intercepts Gaza aid ship peacefully as more flotillas are being chartered
07 Jun 2010 Israel on Saturday peacefully intercepted a Gaza-bound aid ship with 19 pro-Palestinian activists on board and towed it into the Israeli port of Ashdod. read more »
OPINION: Maram Stern on the role of German diplomats during the Nazi era
29 Oct 2010 It is bad enough that 60 years had to pass until it was decided, in 2005, to take a closer look at the role the German Foreign Office played in the Third Reich. The four historians who undertook this task have now concluded that the ministry was a "criminal organization“. read more »
Israel retaliates after missiles from Gaza hit Beersheba
24 Feb 2011 At least two long-range Grad rockets have landed in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, one striking an apartment building. Israel's Air Force struck against a rocket-firing squad and other targets in Gaza. read more »
British trade union calls for boycott - Jerusalem Post, Israel
25 Jun 2010 One of Britain's largest labor unions votes for a boycott of Israel and for expelling Israel'si envoy in Britain, the 'Jerusalem Post' reports. read more »
Canada announces boycott of United Nations' Durban III "charade"
26 Nov 2010 The Canadian Jewish Congress has welcomed a decision by the government of Canada not to take part in a commemoration at the United Nations of the controversial 2001 Durban declaration on racism. read more »
Yad Vashem list of identified Jewish Holocaust victims tops 4 million
22 Dec 2010 The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and Museum has compiled a list of 4 million confirmed names of Jews murdered in the Holocaust. In the last 10 years the names of an additional 1.5 million Jewish victims have been added to the list. read more »
White House officials meet with rabbis to sooth concerns on Israel
17 May 2010 White House officials have met with a group of selected rabbis for the second time about the Obama administration's perceived lack of friendliness toward Israel. read more »
Costa Rica to have Jewish vice-president
10 Feb 2010 Luis Liberman, who is Jewish, has been elected as new vice-president of Costa Rica. He was one of the running mates of Laura Chinchilla, who will be the first woman to hold the country’s presidency. read more »
ANALYSIS - Daniel Ayalon: Israel and the occupation myth - Wall Street Journal, USA
29 Mar 2011 The hatred and violence that killed five members of the Fogel family existed before the Jewish state did. read more »
At Vatican, World Jewish Congress leaders call on Pope Benedict XVI to reject assault on Israel
13 Dec 2010 The leadership of the World Jewish Congress was received by Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Friday and raised concern at the growing political assault on Israel's legitimacy. read more »
Ontario provience condemns Israel Apartheid Week
01 Mar 2010 The legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario has condemned 'Israel Apartheid Week' which is taking place in Universities around the world. read more »
Holocaust survivors sue Hungarian railway company in Chicago court
11 Feb 2010 Heirs of Holocaust survivors have filed a lawsuit in Chicago against the Hungarian state railway company MAV over the latter’s alleged involvement in deporting Jews to the Nazi camps during World War II. read more »
Fire damages prominent New York City synagogue
12 Jul 2011 A dramatic fire has devastated a 110-year-old Modern Orthodox synagogue in Manhattan’s Upper East Side that was set to reopen in September after renovations. Police are investigating the cause of the fire. read more »
Israeli among 4 Jewish scientists to win Nobel Prizes
06 Oct 2011 An Israeli scientist won the 2011 Nobel Prize for chemistry, and Jewish scientists also took prizes in physics and medicine. read more »
Cannes film festival bans Danish movie director after anti-Semitic rant
19 May 2011 At a press conference, the controversial Danish film director Lars von Trier had claimed to be a Nazi and to "understand Hitler". European Jewish Congress President Kantor called the remarks "another reminder of the seeming comfort that anti-Semites feel expressing their prejudices in public gatherings." read more »
Many UN members walk out after yet another Ahmadinejad diatribe
04 May 2010 Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again triggered a walkout by Western countries at the United Nations following a blistering attack against the United States and Israel at a nuclear non-proliferation conference in New York. read more »
Ahmadinejad speaks of his determination to "eradicate" Israel
25 Aug 2011 Ahead of Iran's annual Al-Quds [Jerusalem] Day, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has again threatened to destroy the Jewish state, saying his country was determined to "eradicate" Israel, which he called an "infectious tumor" and a "regime full of rascality." read more »
Wiesel calls for inter-faith center instead of mosque near Ground Zero
08 Oct 2010 The Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel has come out in favor of an inter-faith center near the site of the 9/11 terror attacks in Manhattan, rather than the controversial ‘Ground Zero mosque’. read more »
Two million Holocaust-era property records of Jews now searchable online
31 Jan 2012 The Jewish Agency for Israel's Holocaust Era Asset Restitution Taskforce (‘Project HEART’) has announced that its searchable online database of Jewish property records from World War II now contains more than two million records. read more »
Israel blocks activists' ship from reaching Gaza - Associated Press, USA
16 May 2011 The Israeli military on Monday blocked a Malaysian anti-war group's ship from reaching the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. read more »
Muslim leaders pay visit to Auschwitz together with survivors, statesmen and Christian clerics
02 Feb 2011 A large delegation of Muslim leaders, Holocaust survivors and European statesmen has visited Auschwitz to pay tribute to the millions killed in the Holocaust. read more »
Ebay cancels ‘sale’ of Yiddishe Momma in UK
23 Jun 2010 The online auction house Ebay has removed an advert for a ‘Yiddishe Momma’ from its website for being in breach of its “human body parts and remains policy”, the British weekly ‘Jewish Chronicle’ reports. read more »
Writer Martin Amis calls Brits “a little anti-Semitic”, alleges double standards on Israel
30 Nov 2010 The British writer Martin Amis has called the UK and the West “a little anti-Semitic” and accused it of expecting “higher moral standards from Israel than its neighbors.” read more »
New Greek government includes ministers of anti-Semitic party
17 Nov 2011 Several members of the extreme-right LAOS party, which has repeatedly been accused of anti-Semitism, have been appointed to Greece's new national unity government led by Prime Minister Lucas Papademos. read more »
Germany bans Turkish IHH charity over Hamas links
12 Jul 2010 Germany's government has banned the Turkish organization IHH following evidence that it collects donations for Hamas-related ‘welfare’ projects in the Gaza Strip. read more »
Two suspects arrested over arson attack against Corfu synagogue
21 Apr 2011 Police have arrested two men suspected of carrying out an arson attack against the synagogue on the Greek island of Corfu on the first day of the Passover holiday. The World Jewish Congress, the Greek Jewish community, and the government of Greece strongly condemned the attack. read more »
In Lebanon, Ahmadinejad calls for Zionists to be sent back to their homelands
14 Oct 2010 Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was scheduled to visit Hezbollah strongholds near the Lebanese border with Israel on Thursday after he was warmly received in Beirut on Wednesday. read more »
Jewish and English 'Defence Leagues' Alliance Sparks Violent Protests in Canada
14 Jan 2011 Demonstration against 'Jewish Defense League' and 'English Defense League' sparks violent confrontation. read more »
Democrats urge Republicans to reject call for end of US aid to Israel
04 Feb 2011 Several Democratic US Senate members have urged Republicans to reject Senator Rand Paul’s call to stop all American foreign aid, including funds for Israel. read more »
Jewish lawmaker becomes Irish justice minister in new government
10 Mar 2011 Alan Shatter, Ireland's only Jewish member of parliament, has been appointed as new Irish justice minister. read more »
Obama: Use flotilla tragedy as an opportunity to make peace in Middle East
04 Jun 2010 Speaking on US television, President Barack Obama has said that despite the raid by Israel on the flotilla attempting to reach Gaza, the peace process had to continue. read more »
Lanzmann documentary on Holocaust to have its premiere on Turkish state TV
17 Jan 2012 Turkish TV station TRT will become the first state broadcaster in the Muslim world to air French director Claude Lanzmann's 1985 film ‘Shoah'. read more »
EU envoys say East Jerusalem should be considered as Palestinian capital
12 Jan 2011 A leaked report has revealed that that the 25 European Union missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah are urging Brussels to treat East Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian state. read more »
Venezuela’s Chávez and Syria’s Assad lash out against Israel
29 Jun 2010 The presidents of Venezuela and Syria, Hugo Chávez and Bashar al-Assad, met in Caracas and accused Israel of spreading terrorism in the Middle East. read more »
Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders meet at inter-faith seminar in Spain
18 Oct 2010 Young professionals of the three monotheistic religions are gathering this week in Seville, Spain, for an inter-religious dialogue conference. read more »
Israel arrests suspected killers of Fogel family in Itamar
18 Apr 2011 Police have arrested two Palestinians - a 19-year-old and his 18-year-old cousin from a nearby village. They are suspected of brutally murdering five members of a Jewish family in Itamar last month. read more »
Ahmadinejad rules out further nuclear concessions; attacks Israel again
08 Jun 2010 At a conference in Istanbul, Turkey, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said his country would not give any more ground on its nuclear program. He also accused Israel of having committed “crimes that have been unprecedented in the history of mankind.” read more »
Israeli study exposes “four basic flaws” of Goldstone report
15 Mar 2010 During the Gaza war, Hamas fighters used children as human shields and established launching pads in the vicinity of mosques and hospitals, according to a detailed report by the Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. read more »
Explosion outside synagogue in Swedish city shocks Jewish community
26 Jul 2010 A firecracker has exploded on the steps of the synagogue in the Swedish city of Malmö, a day after a bomb threat was taped to the building. read more »
Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters wages boycott campaign against Israel
08 Mar 2011 The singer and bassist of the rock band Pink Floyd has become the latest artist to advocate a boycott of Israel, which he accused of operating on a "two-tiered racist system". read more »
OPINION - José María Aznar: If Israel goes down, we all go down
18 Jun 2010 Anger over Gaza is a distraction. We cannot forget that Israel is the West’s best ally in a turbulent region, argues Spain's former Prime Minister José María Aznar in an op-ed for 'The Times'. read more »
Vodka firm removes billboard ad after allegations of anti-Semitism
23 Nov 2011 The New-York based Wódka Vodka has said it would remove billboards with slogan “Christmas Quality, Hanukkah Pricing” and apologized for the ads after receiving a number of complaints. read more »
Literature professor calls for destruction of Israel at rally in DC
25 Oct 2010 Two Pennsylvania state lawmakers have sent a letter of complaint to the head of Lincoln University in Oxford about a literature professor who made strong anti-Israel statements at a rally in Washington, DC. read more »
German Foreign Office complicit in Nazi Holocaust, historians prove
25 Oct 2010 A task force of historians commissioned in 2005 by then-Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has found that during the Nazi-era many German diplomats actively supported the genocide of Jews and later covered up their involvement in these crimes read more »
Academic sues British labor union for “harassment” of Jewish members
07 Jul 2011 British academic and pro-Israel activist Ronnie Fraser has filed a lawsuit against the University and College Union (UCU), of which he is a member, claiming it has created a “degrading, humiliating and offensive environment” for its Jewish members. read more »
Anti-Semitism in Britain still at alarming levels, study finds
03 Feb 2011 More than 639 incidents of anti-Jewish incidents were reported last year, the second highest number since 1984, the Community Security Trust (CST) of the British Jewish community has said in its new report. read more »
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Israel's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Danny Ayalon explains the historical facts relating to the issue of refugees in the Israeli Palestinian conflict
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