The following is a review of the news highlights of the Jewish year 5771.
SEPTEMBER 2010
No freeze: Despite offers of increased U.S. military equipment, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decides against extending the 10-month West Bank settlement freeze.
OCTOBER 2010
Jewish aides to leave: President Barack Obama’s top two Jewish aides — Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and senior adviser David Axelrod, both with offices within shouting distance of the Oval Office — announce that they will be leaving the administration.
Supreme Court: For the first time in history, the Supreme Court convenes with three Jewish justices.
Non-loyalty oaths: A Knesset proposal to require loyalty oaths of non-Jews wishing to become Israeli citizens wins the endorsement of Israel’s Cabinet and prompts protests in Tel Aviv. The proposal is later amended to include Jews as well.
JVP labeled anti-Israel: The Anti-Defamation League lists a Jewish group, Jewish Voices for Peace, on its list of top 10 anti-Israel organizations in America.
Statehood talk: A month after the collapse of renewed peace talks with Israel, Palestinian Authority officials begin talking publicly about declaring statehood unilaterally.
Explosive packages: Packages containing explosive devices are mailed from Yemen to Jewish institutions in the Chicago area but are intercepted before they reach their intended targets.
NOVEMBER 2010
Congressional exits: In the Republican Party’s near sweep of the 2010 midterm elections, six Jewish members of the House of Representatives lose their seats.
Fraudulent claims: The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Claims Conference disclose that they have discovered thousands of fraudulent claims against the agency that seeks restitution for victims of the Nazis; 17 people are arrested. By mid-2011, more than $50 million in fraudulent claims had been found.
Falush Mura: Israel allows another 8,000 Falash Mura from Ethiopia to immigrate.
Iran nukes: WikiLeaks’ release of thousands of classified U.S. documents shows Arab leaders expressing grave concern about Iran’s nuclear intentions and urging the U.S. to curb Iran’s nuclear program.
Seinfeld attends gala: The National Museum of American Jewish History opens in Philadelphia with a gala headlined by Vice President Joe Biden, comedian Jerry Seinfeld and entertainer Bette Midler.
DECEMBER 2010
Massive forest fire: Forty-two people are killed and 12,000 acres are destroyed by a massive forest fire in northern Israel that prompts firefighting assistance from countries around the region.
Helen Thomas’ remark: In a speech to an Arab-American group in Michigan, former White House journalist Helen Thomas says that Congress, the White House, Hollywood and Wall Street are “owned by the Zionists.” The remark prompts the Society of Professional Journalists later to drop her name from an annual lifetime achievement award.
Kissinger revelation: Newly released Nixon-era tapes include recordings of Henry Kissinger saying the theoretical gassing of Soviet Jews wouldn’t be an American concern.
Bus ads in Seattle: A Seattle group pays for ads to run on buses in the city that accuse Israel of war crimes. The ads are pulled before they ever run, prompting a lawsuit.
JANUARY 2011
Debbie Friedman dies: Jews worldwide mourn the passing of Debbie Friedman, a popular singer-songwriter who is widely credited with reinvigorating synagogue music and best known for her composition “Mi Shebeirach,” a prayer for healing that is sung in many North American congregations.
Giffords shot: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), the first Jewish woman elected to Congress from Arizona, is shot in the head during a public campaign appearance in Tucson, triggering a national outpouring of sympathy and prayer. First responders later credit the emergency bandage colloquially known as “the Israeli bandage” with saving lives in the aftermath of the shooting that left six dead and 13 wounded.
Peace talks were close: Newly leaked maps detailing Palestinian and Israeli negotiations over the West Bank in 2008 show how close the two sides were on some issues — and how far apart they were on others. With Lebanon in turmoil and a Hezbollah-backed prime minister poised to take power in Beirut, Israel is concerned at the prospect of a tectonic shift in the regional balance.
FEBRUARY 2011
Mubarak ousted: Massive street protests drive Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, an ally of Israel and the United States, from power. Coming on the heels of a similar turn of events in Tunisia, Mubarak’s fall raises hopes that a wave of democracy has been unleashed and fears — especially in Israel — that what is being called the Arab Spring will end with radical Islamic forces in power.
Rep. Jane Harman quits: Rep. Jane Harman, a tough-talking Jewish Democrat from Southern California, suddenly decides to quit Congress in a sign of the precarious position of the Democratic Party’s centrist bloc.
Giving is down: An annual survey from the Chronicle of Philanthropy finds that America’s most generous citizens gave less in 2010 than they had over the past decade, with Jews remaining among the top givers.
Oscar for Portman: At the Academy Awards, Jewish winners include Israel-born Natalie Portman (“Black Swan”) and 73-year-old “The King’s Speech” screenwriter David Seidler, himself a stutterer whose paternal grandparents perished in the Holocaust. Oscars were handed out as well to U.S. filmmakers Kirk Simon and Karen Goodman for “Strangers No More,” a short documentary on the Bialik-Rogozin School in south Tel Aviv, and Susanne Bier, the Danish director-writer of “In a Better World” who studied for two years at the Hebrew University and the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem.
MARCH 2011
Galliano caught on video: The fashion house Dior fires acclaimed designer John Galliano after a video surfaces of him praising Hitler.
Ghastly attack in Itamar: In a terrorist attack in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Itamar, five members of the Fogel family are massacred as they sleep. Two Palestinians in their late teens are arrested; one is found guilty by an Israeli military court. The other suspect is awaiting trial.
Gaza-bound weapons: Israel’s navy intercepts a ship laden with weapons bound for Gaza.
Response to Japan disasters: Jewish and Israel groups begin sending aid to Japan as it struggles to respond to a massive earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis.
Gross sentenced in Cuba: American Jewish contractor Alan Gross is sentenced to 15 years in prison in Cuba for subversive activities. The United States says Gross was in the country to help Cuba’s Jews.
Focus on J Street: Groups on the Jewish left express outrage after a Knesset subcommittee votes to convene hearings on J Street, the Washington-based lobby that calls itself “pro-Israel, pro-peace.” NGOs condemn the hearing as part of an Israeli government campaign to target NGOs critical of Israel.
Liz Taylor dies: Academy Award-winning actress Elizabeth Taylor, who maintained a support for Israel after converting to Judaism in the late 1950s, dies.
APRIL 2011
Goldstone change of heart: Richard Goldstone, author of the controversial U.N. report on the 2009 Gaza War that accused Israel of war crimes, withdraws the central tenet of that report in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post. That prompts an unsuccessful drive by Israel and its supporters to void the report formally in the United Nations.
Santa Monica bomb: A bomb explodes outside Chabad of Santa Monica. The suspect turns out to be Jewish.
DNC gets new chair: Obama picks Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Jewish Democrat from Florida, to chair the Democratic National Committee.
URJ tabs Yoffie replacement: The Union for Reform Judaism names Rabbi Rick Jacobs as its choice to succeed Rabbi Eric Yoffie at the helm of the movement. Jacobs comes under fire for his affiliations with J Street and the New Israel Fund. He is later confirmed by the union’s board.
Hamas and Fatah negotiations: The Palestinian Hamas and Fatah factions announce that they are reconciling, prompting calls for the U.S. government to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority. However, a Hamas-Fatah unity government fails to materialize.
MAY 2011
Bin Laden killed: Osama bin Laden is killed in Pakistan by U.S. forces, prompting questions about whether the liquidation of al-Qaida’s leader makes a follow-up attack more or less likely and whether Jews could be a target.
Playwright controversy: In a controversy over the Israel positions of Jewish playwright Tony Kushner, City University of New York first cancels, then reinstates, plans to grant Kushner an honorary degree.
Demjanjuk is guilty: Capping more than three decades of legal drama, a Munich court rules that former Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk, 91, was a Nazi war criminal.
Storming Israel’s borders: Thousands of Arabs storm Israel’s borders from Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere to mark the Nakba — the anniversary of the “catastrophe” of Israel’s founding. Caught unprepared, Israeli forces hold the crowds back and more than a dozen Arabs are killed.
Blow for French Jews: The arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn in New York on sexual assault charges represents a particularly harsh blow for many in France’s Jewish community. His planned candidacy for the French presidency is considered dead.
Circumcision battle: San Francisco approves a ballot measure for November to outlaw circumcision of minors in the city. A judge later strikes the ban from the ballot, saying the city has no authority to ban circumcision.
Obama’s pre-1967 gambit: Obama delivers a major speech on Mideast policy in which he states that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations should be based upon “1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps.” The formulation sparks a fiery debate over whether the president was simply reiterating longtime U.S. policy or pressuring Israel. Soon after, the president holds a tense news conference with Netanyahu. Both leaders speak to thousands of pro-Israel activists at the annual AIPAC policy conference. Later, Netanyahu receives multiple ovations during remarks to a joint session of Congress.
Tornado assistance: After a deadly tornado strikes Joplin, Mo., the Jewish community sends help.
Arson in New York: In the Chassidic village of New Square, N.Y., an arson attack that leaves a Jewish man severely burned raises questions about religious violence in the name of fealty to a rebbe.
No to Durban III: The Obama administration says it will not participate in the so-called Durban III conference at the United Nations in September to mark the 10th anniversary of the U.N. anti-racism confab in South Africa, which turned into an anti-Israel hate fest. By mid-September, other countries boycotting the conference include Canada, Australia, Israel, Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy and the Netherlands.
JUNE 2011
Anthony Weiner scandal: One of the most ardent pro-Israel Democrats in Congress, New York’s Anthony Weiner, is engulfed in scandal over lying about illicit messages sent on Twitter and eventually resigns. In a special election held in September to fill the seat in Weiner’s heavily Democratic district, Republican candidate Bob Turner wins an upset victory in a race many describe as a bellwether for national discontent with Obama.
Yale dumps program: Yale University shutters its Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Anti-Semitism, saying it failed to meet certain academic criteria. Critics, however, claim the program was killed for shining a light on Muslim anti-Semitism.
Cottage cheese sparks revolt: Cottage cheese, a national staple in Israel that has seen its price rising steadily, becomes the focus of a consumer revolt and a symbol of frustration with the high cost of living in the Jewish state. Later, the protests broaden and focus on the shortage of affordable housing in the country, with mass demonstrations and tent cities popping up in Tel Aviv and elsewhere.
JULY 2011
Fly-in replaces flotilla: After a flotilla of ships to Gaza fails to launch from Greece, protesters announce a planned “fly-in” to Israel to protest its treatment of the Palestinians.
Tragedies in Brooklyn, Houston: Jewish communities in New York and Houston are rocked, respectively, by the murder of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky, who was abducted walking home from summer day camp in Borough Park, Brooklyn, and a car crash that instantly killed Josh and Robin Berry, 41 and 40, and left two of their three children paralyzed from the waist down.
Maccabi Games milestone: For the first time since 1945, the Maccabi Games — the so-called Jewish Olympics in Europe — are held in a German-speaking country (Austria). Maccabi officials said the crowd made up the largest gathering of Jews in Vienna since the Holocaust.
Israel Slammed for new law: Israel passes a law that penalizes those seeking to boycott Israel or West Bank Jewish settlements. American Jewish groups slam the law as undemocratic.
Winehouse dies: British Jewish singer Amy Winehouse, 27, dies.
Killing spree in Norway: Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian anti-Muslim extremist who wrote a manifesto expressing sympathy for Israel’s plight, bombs a government building in Oslo and goes on a killing spree on the nearby island of Utoya, killing 77.
Protests mushroom: Israelis protesting the absence of affordable housing and the high cost of living in Israel stage massive demonstrations, erecting a sprawling tent city in Tel Aviv and blocking roads around the country. Amid the crisis, the prime minister cancels an overseas trip and proposes a series of changes. The movement gains steam throughout the summer, culminating in a protest of hundreds of thousands in early September. A few days later the tent city in Tel Aviv is disassembled. Activists vow to continue their campaign.
AUGUST 2011
Obama hires Ira Forman: The Obama re-election campaign hires Ira Forman, the ex-chief of the National Jewish Democratic Council, as its Jewish outreach director.
Sharpton admits mistakes: The brother of Yankel Rosenbaum, the Jewish scholar murdered in the 1991 Crown Heights riots, decries the Rev. Al Sharpton’s participation in a synagogue event on the riots’ 20th anniversary. Sharpton pulls out of the event and pens an op-ed in the New York Daily News acknowledging that he made some mistakes during the riots.
Egypt-Israel border clash: Eight Israelis are killed in a terrorist attack along the Egypt-Israel border that sparks a diplomatic crisis with Egypt when Israeli troops pursuing the terrorists open fire on Egyptian soil and three Egyptian security forces inadvertently are killed. Israel quickly apologies but expresses concern that terrorists from Gaza are using the Egyptian Sinai as a route to attack Israel. Meanwhile, Israel and Gaza rocket crews trade airstrikes and rocket fire.
Fraudulent Torah tale: Menachem Youlus, a rabbi who claimed that he rescued Torah scrolls lost during the Holocaust, is arrested on fraud charges and accused of fabricating the stories.
Hurricane Irene: Hurricane Irene churns up the East Coast, flooding towns, disrupting transportation and killing more than 30 people, including three Jews, one of whom dies trying to save a boy and his father from electrocution. The boy later succumbs, becoming the fourth Jewish death reported in the historic storm.
SEPTEMBER 2011
Lauren Bush weds a Jew: Lauren Bush, granddaughter of the President George H.W. Bush and niece of George W. Bush, marries Ralph Lauren’s son in a ceremony presided over by an ordained rabbi.
Turkey-Israel hubbub: Turkey expels Israel’s ambassador to the country and downgrades diplomatic and military ties.
Statehood stand: The Obama administration confirms it will veto any U.N. Security Council resolution recognizing Palestinian statehood ahead of an anticipated U.N. vote on a Palestinian state.
Attack on Israeli Embassy: An Egyptian mob breaks into the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, ransacking the building and tearing down its security walls. Israeli personnel are stuck inside for hours until Egyptian commandos arrive at the scene. The Israelis later are evacuated from the country by Israeli Air Force jets. The attack exacerbates fears in Israel that it is losing a once-reliable ally to the south.
“A look at 5771” was compiled by JTA staff members