Jerusalem’s 10th annual gay pride parade saw 4,000 attendees last week, despite a protest by the ultra Orthodox community. The event took place along its original King George to Keren Hayesod route for the first time since a killing spree cast a dark shade over the event seven years ago. In 2005, three marchers were stabbed and killed by a haredi extremist, and this year’s parade included a moment of silence for the victims. “Against violence, you can never give up,” said Adam Russo, who …More

Israel says a UN Human Rights Council mission in the West Bank settlements is “flawed and biased.” [The Washington Post] Lawrence Baron wonders what happened to Jewish movies. [San Diego Jewish World] The European Jewish Congress demands a more proactive response to the growth in anti-Semitic attacks around Europe. [JTA] Follow Arthur Federman’s journey during World War II. [The Jewish Press] The Jewish Museum’s exhibit “Crossing Borders: Manuscripts from the Bodleian …More

Haredi Orthodox men threw stones at a woman's car in a suburban Jerusalem neighborhood, shouting that the woman was not dressed modestly enough. The woman was taking her baby out of the car to go shopping in Beit Shemesh on Wednesday when the men starting throwing the stones, Haaretz reported. Two haredi women ushered the mother and baby to safety at a nearby store. The vehicle's windowpane was smashed, according to reports. …More

The Tzohar rabbinical association reached an agreement to lift restrictions on its rabbis conducting weddings. [Jerusalem Post] Some conservative rabbis have altered the kiddushin language when performing gay wedding ceremonies. [Forward] Television viewers will get an in-depth look at Israel, with Benjamin Netanyahu as tour guide. [Israel Hayom] Sara Netanyahu, wife of Bibi, will be featured in American Vanity Fair next month. [Ynet] A haredi rapper released a single aimed at Iranian President Mahmoud …More

Haredi Orthodox Jews clashed with police in the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem. Some 200 protesters gathered in Shabbat Square Sunday afternoon after six respected members of the haredi Orthodox community were arrested for tax offenses. They are accused of donation theft, tax evasion, and money laundering. One of the arrested is the personal assistant of the leader of the Eda Haredit, Rabbi Yitzhak Tuvia Weiss. A demonstration was also held in Beit Shemesh. Three demonstrators were arrested  in the …More

Yair Lapid announced on Sunday that he will leave his job as a television journalist and enter the Israeli political sphere. "I’ve embarked on a new path,” Lapid wrote in a statement. “I am emboldened by the strength I receive from knowing that I am doing what I believe in. You are my community, and I receive a lot of strength from you.” The timing of Lapid’s announcement was to precede Wednesday’s vote in the Knesset Law Committee on the “Yair Laipd Bill,” which …More

Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel strongly condemned a recent ultra-Orthodox protest in Israel for its use of Holocaust imagery. Wiesel, who is a Holocaust survivor himself and has written several books on the subject, called the images of young children wearing black-and-white prison uniforms with yellow stars saying “Jude” affixed to the front a “vile sight.” "I never thought they'd stoop to such a low. How dare they? To both desecrate the honor of the State of Israel and the memory …More

The chief rabbi of the Israeli Air Force has resigned from a program which recruits haredi Orthodox men into the Air Force over the issue of female soldiers singing at events. Rabbi Moshe Ravad said in his resignation letter from the Shahar program that "in light of the current situation I cannot see myself being a part of the program as a rabbi and an adviser.”  In an official ruling announced Monday, Israel Defense Forces soldiers will not be excused from official military ceremonies at which women …More

Israeli and Jewish leaders worldwide have condemned ultra-Orthodox Jews for using Holocaust imagery as part of a protest against their treatment in the Jewish state. "It's shocking and terrifying," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a radio interview on Sunday, adding that “the leadership of the Orthodox Jewish community, which is globally responsible, must eradicate this intolerable phenomenon.” Over a thousand Haredi Orthodox protesters took to the streets of Jerusalem on Saturday night to …More

Israeli leaders criticized a haredi Orthodox demonstration in which protesters wore yellow stars to indicate that they are being oppressed like the Jews in Nazi Germany. More than 1,000 haredi Orthodox protesters gathered in Jerusalem Saturday night to protest what they described as persecution against their way of life, including separation of the sexes. Many of the protesters wore yellow stars with the word "Jude" written on them, using Holocaust imagery to hammer home their point. Young haredi Orthodox …More

Haredi soldiers' leisure activities get surprising upgrade: Computers with Internet connection have been installed in recent weeks at IDF posts in the Jenin area, where fighters of the Netzach Yehuda Battalion are stationed. Other battalions' posts, however, have yet to receive computers with Internet connection. In the haredi battalion, the computers are available for the soldiers at times of rest between the operational activities. The computers include a content-control software preventing the fighters from …More

The New Israel Fund wants Jewish women to send in photos of themselves holding a sign reading “women should be seen and heard” as part of a campaign to prevent women from being marginalized in Jerusalem. The photos will be used to create posters that will be hung in Jerusalem, NIF said on its website, as part of a series of initiatives that the organization says it will take to address the issue. Bowing to demands of haredi Orthodox groups in Jerusalem, images of women have been dropped from …More