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Synagogue, Developer At Odds Over Casino

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Amid Brouhaha Over IRS, Z Street Gets Its Day in Court

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ADL Regional Head to Retire at Year’s End

Israel

Flotilla Fallout: Will It Matter on Election Day?

By:

Bryan Schwartzman

It's a question worth asking: What effect will the May 31 Israeli flotilla incident have on domestic politics, especially in the already heated Senate race here in Pennsylvania? Republican Senate hopeful Pat Toomey -- who took less than 24 hours to put out a statement after the event that had reporters and pundits writing and blogging like wildfire -- is...

Local

Consul Battles to Get Israel's Message to Public

By:

Lisa Hostein

Inside the Israeli consulate in Center City, Jerusalem's top diplomat to the region has been working overtime to get his country's message out. Consul General Daniel Kutner says that it's not just a public-relations problem, but a more fundamental effort to delegitimitze Israel. He takes issue with those who suggest that all Israel needs to do is explain its position...

Local

Local Activists Defend a Beleaguered Israel

By:

Bryan Schwartzman

Alarmed by the continuing international outrage directed at Israel following last week's raid on a Gaza-bound ship, local Jews are stepping up their activism in defense of the Jewish state. In public meetings, briefings at the Israeli consulate, letters to the editor, e-mail blasts and street demonstrations, activists are voicing their anger and frustration. "The whole world is against this...

National

Sestak, the Winner, Has His Work Cut Out for Him

By:

Bryan Schwartzman

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak tends to wax poetic about the values instilled in him during his career in the U.S. Navy, and more than once has used a battleship as a metaphor to describe American foreign policy. (It must be turned around slowly and with care.) The retired three-star admiral can now rightly be called a political giant killer, having...

National

How Specter, the 'Go-To Guy,' Lost His Electoral Sparkle

By:

Bryan Schwartzman

Until now, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter -- one of the most influential Jewish politicians of the last 30 years -- has been known as a political escape artist, achieving electoral victories in the face of probably defeat. Supporters say that the son of an immigrant from Russia, who went from being the lone Jewish kid in Russel, Kan., to the...