SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) – Ads questioning the Zionist credentials of the leader-designate of the Reform movement are a distortion, Reform leaders said. The ad attacking Rabbi Richard Jacobs for not being sufficiently pro-Israel appeared in a number of Jewish newspapers this week. It was placed by a group of Reform Jews calling themselves Jews Against [ Read More...]

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — North American Jewish federations generated nearly $2.5 billion for program needs in 2010, according to their umbrella group. The Jewish Federations of North America raised about $925 million last year in its 157 federated and 300 network communities, down from the 2009 campaign totals of $938 million. JFNA spokespeople attributed the [ Read More...]

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — Jewish groups are mobilizing assistance in areas of the U.S. Southeast struck by devastating tornadoes this week. The Birmingham Jewish Federation in Alabama has opened a Tornado Recovery Fund to raise money for victims of the storms and tornadoes, which struck Wednesday and continued Thursday morning. The federation is coordinating a [ Read More...]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Holocaust survivors lobbied in the U.S. Congress for a bill that would allow lawsuits against France’s national railroad. Bills introduced in March in the U.S. House of Representatives and in the Senate, and by a bipartisan slate of top lawmakers, would make SNCF and other railroads that transported Jews during the Holocaust [ Read More...]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Reform movement cited the attack that seriously wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others in urging Congress to ban high-capacity ammunition clips. “The clips can hold 30, 50 or even 100 rounds, enabling shooters to cause serious casualties before needing to reload,” read the letter that Rabbi David Saperstein, the [ Read More...]

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — A proposal to ban circumcision in San Francisco looks likely for the November ballot. A group opposed to male circumcision told Reuters that it had collected more than enough signatures on petitions to qualify their proposal for the Nov. 8 vote. The measure, which would apply only in the city of [ Read More...]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The White House reportedly is set to name Steve Simon, the co-author of a comprehensive outline for a Palestinian state, as a top Middle East official. The Obama administration will tap Simon, a former top National Security Council official in the Clinton administration, to head the NSC’s Middle East desk, according to [ Read More...]

(JTA) — An apparent arson attack destroyed a renovated kosher supermarket in New York City that was set to reopen. The Seasons market in the Kew Gardens Hills neighborhood of Queens reportedly was set alight early Monday morning, during the Passover holiday. The attack ruined the inventory and destroyed most of the building, at least [ Read More...]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — More Israelis favor recognizing a Palestinian state than not, and a majority want Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch a major peace initiative, a new poll shows. Asked whether Israel should join in international recognition of Palestine should the matter come to a U.N. vote in September, as the Palestinian Authority [ Read More...]

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel struck a nuclear reactor when it allegedly bombed a Syrian site in 2007, the head of the international nuclear watchdog said. Yukiya Amano, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the structure in the Syrian desert destroyed by Israeli warplanes was definitely a nuclear reactor, The Associated Press reported Thursday. [ Read More...]