A force for constructive communal consciousness
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley at the United Nations in New York, March 8, 2018. (Haim Zach/Israeli Government Press Office)
NEW YORK (JTA) – Nikki Haley, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations and a strong defender of Israel in the world body, has resigned, according to reports.
Axios and The New York Times reported Tuesday morning that the former South Carolina governor had stepped down from her position. [Read more…]
A boy sitting near sacks of flour distributed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) at the Al-Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza City, Gaza, Jan. 15, 2018. (Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
(JTA) – Most of the international employees of the United Nations refugee agency in the Gaza Strip were evacuated after what the agency called “a series of worrying security incidents.”
Nine of the 11 members of the foreign staff of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) left Gaza for Israel though the Erez crossing on Monday. The crossing had been closed for the end of the Sukkot holiday, but was opened briefly to allow the evacuation, Haaretz reported. The newspaper said that the UNRWA employees had received death threats from local employees facing the loss of their jobs due to a financial crisis in the agency. [Read more…]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at the United Nations during the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, Sept. 27, 2018. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
(JTA) – Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, in an address to the United Nations, rejected criticism of the PA for paying monthly salaries to Palestinians who kill Israelis or the families of the killers.
“I pay tribute to our hero martyrs and prisoners of war,” he told the General Assembly on Thursday. [Read more…]
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Sept. 26, 2018. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected an invitation to participate in a United Nations conference on Anti-Semitism.
The conference was held on Wednesday at the United Nations headquarters in New York under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. [Read more…]
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Sept. 26, 2018. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) – U.S. President Donald Trump said ahead of a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he favours the two-state solution and that he hopes to reveal his peace plan within four months.
“I like the two-state solution,” Trump said, appearing Wednesday with Netanyahu at the United Nations during the world body’s General Assembly. “That’s what I think works best.” [Read more…]
(JTA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left for the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.
Netanyahu left from Ben-Gurion International Airport on Tuesday morning, hours after the end of the first day of Sukkot. Jews in Israel only observe one day of the holiday; those in the Diaspora observe two. He landed in New York after sundown on Tuesday, the second day of the holiday. [Read more…]
Then-UN secretary-eneral Kofi Annan, right, with then-Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert during a meeting of the United Nations Foundation Board of Directors at Olmert’s Jerusalem office, Oct. 28, 2007. (Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images)
JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his “sorrow” over the passing of former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan, who died of an unspecified illness on Saturday. He was 80 years old.
Annan’s politics sometimes diverged sharply with those of Israel’s leaders. However, he was remembered by Israelis as a staunch proponent of the Jewish state’s right to exist who was firmly opposed to anti-Semitism. [Read more…]
Michael Regenstreif, Editor
Almost three years ago, after Justin Trudeau led the Liberal Party to victory in the federal election, I wrote a column suggesting Canada’s strong friendship with Israel would continue unabated under the new government (From the Editor, November 9, 2015). Stephen Harper, then the outgoing prime minister, had often been lauded for his strong support of Israel.
Indeed, Canada and Israel have maintained strong ties since Trudeau became prime minister. Just a few months after taking office, Trudeau’s Liberals joined with the Conservatives in passing a motion strongly denouncing the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. In the debate, Liberal cabinet ministers denounced the BDS movement as a modern-day form of anti-Semitism. And, on May 28, a modernized and more comprehensive Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement was announced by the two countries. [Read more…]
Gerald Steinberg speaks at Congregation Beit Tikvah, June 19.
One-sided attacks on Israel in the media and at the United Nations (UN) during the recent Palestinian unrest on the border with Gaza are part of a pattern that has been ongoing since Israel’s victory in the Six Day War, according to Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor, an Israeli non-profit that reports on the activities of nongovernmental agencies in the Middle East.
Steinberg, a professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University, spoke on June 19 at Congregation Beit Tikvah at a lecture presented jointly by the congregation, Jewish National Fund of Ottawa, and B’nai Brith Canada. [Read more…]
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks at a UN Security Council emergency session on the demonstrations at the Israel-Gaza conflict, at UN headquarters in New York City, May 30, 2018. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)
(JTA) – The Trump administration has withdrawn the United States from the UN Human Rights Council because of its bias against Israel.
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, jointly announced the pullout on Tuesday evening.
“The Human Rights Council is an exercise in shameless hypocrisy,” Pompeo told the media at the State Department.
Haley said the decision came after her “good faith” effort to reform the body was obstructed by others. [Read more…]