Paper Runs Obama's Western Wall Prayer

(NEWSER) - Jews seeking to send a message to God can now do so via Twitter, the Daily Telegraph reports. The "Tweet Your Prayers" service prints out tweeted prayers and deposits them between the stones in Jerusalem's 2,000-year-old Western Wall. Its founders accept no responsibility for unanswered prayers. "Take it up with the Big Guy upstairs," their website says. "We're just the middlemen!" More»

'I wouldn't go into a church wearing Jewish symbols,' Rabinovitch says

(NEWSER) - Pope Benedict XVI plans to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem next month as a show of mutual understanding and sensitivity between Catholicism and Judaism—but a request from a prominent rabbi almost ensures he’ll offend someone, Time reports. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch said the pontiff should remove the cross he wears constantly, “out of respect” for the Jews and their sacred site. More»

Jewish new year coincides with Muslim month of Ramadan in city special to both

(NEWSER) - This year’s intersection of Jewish new-year holidays and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan—a rarity due to Islam’s changing calendar—is felt particularly keenly in Jerusalem, a sacred city for both religions, Ethan Bronner notes in the New York Times. Night has become “a kind of monotheistic traffic jam,” with devout Jews praying at the Western Wall while Muslims break their fast. More»

Peter Beinart on the US' longstanding trend of rolling over to its ally

(NEWSER) - President Obama hosted Benjamin Netanyahu last week, and unlike Bibi's last visit—a disaster for Obama—this one went well, with Netanyahu seemingly embracing the president. But that harmony came at the cost of Obama's principles on Israel, says Peter Beinart of Newsweek , in a modified excerpt from his new book, The Crisis of Zionism. It was all too familiar. "The story of Obama’s relationship to Netanyahu and his American Jewish allies is, fundamentally, a story of acquiescence," Beinart writes. More»

Iran tensions dominate talks

(NEWSER) - President Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu tried to project an image of unity today as the president welcomed his Israeli counterpart to the Oval Office. Speaking to reporters before their closed-door meeting, Obama said, "The United States will always have Israel's back," echoing his AIPAC speech. Netanyahu, meanwhile, thanked the president for recognizing that "Israel has the sovereign right to make its own decisions." According to the New York Times , Israeli officials interpreted Obama's remarks to mean that the US won't block an Israeli preemptive strike . More»