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Latest news briefs from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
(JTA) - Sharon-Abbas summit seen
Ariel Sharon may meet Mahmoud Abbas next month, officials said. Aides to the two leaders met Wednesday in Jerusalem after the Israeli prime minister lifted a ban on diplomatic contacts with the Palestinian Authority that were imposed after a recent terrorist attack. According to political sources, the aides agreed to convene again next week with a view to setting up a summit, the first since Abbas succeeded Yasser Arafat as P.A. president. The summit, expected next month, could boost efforts to get the U.S.-led "road map" peace plan back on track. In addition, U.S. envoy William Burns was due to visit Israel and the West Bank on Wednesday to advance peacemaking efforts.
(JTA) - Columbia conference postponed
A Columbia University conference on the Middle East, which Israel's ambassador refused to attend, is being postponed. The Second Annual Forum on International Conflict Resolution: Revisiting the Middle East Peace Process, scheduled for Thursday, was postponed after Israel's U.S. ambassador, Danny Ayalon, canceled his appearance due to controversy surrounding charges of faculty intimidation toward pro-Israel students at Columbia. The university has assembled a panel to investigate those charges. Jewish organizations and Israeli officials asked Columbia to postpone the conference until after the panel issues a report, due in February. In a statement, conference coordinator and former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell said he was canceling the conference because "several government officials Israeli, Palestinian and American who had agreed to participate have informed me that they will be unable to attend because they must remain in or travel to the Middle East this week."
(JTA) - ADL petitions Vatican
The Anti-Defamation League wants the Vatican to release its Holocaust-era baptismal records. The ADL is gathering signatures on a letter asking the Vatican to disclose its records. The move was in reaction to the discovery of a Vatican letter to French authorities asking them not to return Jewish children hidden during the war to their parents or Jewish communities. "There may be many Jewish children who were rescued and baptized who, to this day, are not aware of their true origins," the ADL wrote. "The Vatican has an obligation to allow these fortunate survivors of the Holocaust a complete understanding of their heritage and history."
(JTA) - Gaza settlers up in arms
Israeli settlers and police scuffled in the Gaza Strip over the deployment of Palestinian Authority security forces. Two settlers were hurt and five detained in Wednesday's confrontation at Neveh Dekalim, which took place as Israeli officials were meeting their P.A. counterparts to agree on ways of stopping Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks on Israel. Under the agreement, the Palestinian Authority is to deploy 2,000 police in southern Gaza, the site of arms smuggling from adjoining Egypt. A similar deployment in the northern part of the strip last week greatly diminished the number of terrorist attacks from the area. The Neveh Dekalim scuffles forced Israeli and Palestinian officers to reconvene at a fortified installation in the nearby Gush Katif junction.
(JTA) - Blast from the past
Ariel Sharon accused some of Israel's critics of being motivated by anti-Semitism. "The legitimate self-defense measures Israel takes in its war against Palestinian terror measures any sovereign state would be obliged to take in order to safeguard its residents are presented by various anti-Semites as Nazi-style acts of aggression," the Israeli prime minister said Wednesday in a Knesset address ahead of international commemorations Thursday of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. "This phenomenon, of Jews protecting themselves and fighting back, is deemed outrageous by the new anti-Semites." Alluding to Iran and Arabs sworn to the Jewish state's destruction, Sharon vowed never to let down his guard. "Sixty years after the liberation of Auschwitz, the evil that begat the horror still exists, and still poses a threat," he said. "We must always remember that this is the only place in the world in which we, the Jews, have the right and the power to protect ourselves, with our own forces, and we will never give this up."
(JTA) - Deer mauls Holocaust survivor
A Holocaust survivor and sculptor was hurt Monday night when a 10-point buck smashed a window in his Columbus, Ohio home. Alfred Tibor, 84, was wounded on his wrist and stomach and bled badly after the deer mauled him Monday. His wife flagged down a passing motorist for help while Tibor fended off the animal rampaging inside his home. Columbus police shot and killed the deer. Tibor's wife said he likely will be released from the hospital on Thursday. Tibor, a well-known artist, was born Alfred Goldstein in Hungary; Tibor was the first name of his murdered brother. Most of his family was killed in the Holocaust, and his art often reflects his wartime experiences.
(JTA) - Tourist or spy?
A Dane under arrest in Israel was accused of spying for Hezbollah. Police said Wednesday that Iyyad Ashua, a Lebanese-born Palestinian who immigrated to Denmark in 1986, came to Israel last month to gather intelligence for the Lebanese terrorist group and recruit Israeli Arabs for terrorist attacks. Ashua, 39, was arrested Jan. 6 after train guards noticed him filming military installations. Ashua's family told Danish media he came to Israel as a tourist and was taking pictures of "Palestine" to show his children. He is to be officially charged with espionage Thursday. Two Israeli Arabs also were detained in the case.
(JTA) - Natalie goes native
Oscar-nominated actress Natalie Portman's latest project is an Israeli movie. Director Amos Gitai said Wednesday that filming was about to begin on "Free Zone," in which the Jerusalem-born Portman plays one of three women involved in selling cars between Israel and Jordan. "In this film, she speaks both Hebrew and English," Gitai, who has won accolades for his politically charged work, told Army Radio. "Obviously she understood that the terms would not be the same as on a Hollywood movie, but she was very keen to get involved." Portman won a Golden Globe for best supporting actress in "Closer" and is nominated for an Academy Award in the same category.
(JTA) - Last rites for next-to-last Jew
One of Afghanistan's two known remaining Jews died. Yitzhak Levi succumbed to complications from diabetes in Kabul last week at age 80. His death leaves only one Jew in Afghanistan, Zebulon Simentov. Levi's family, which lives in Israel, is hoping to take his remains for burial in Israel. After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Jewish groups offered to help Levi emigrate, but he refused. Most Afghan Jews left after the creation of Israel in 1948 or during subsequent unrest in their country.
(JTA) - Hits on hold?
Israel could halt its assassinations of senior Palestinian terrorists if they cease fire, an Israeli Cabinet minister said. Ehud Olmert denied a Ma'ariv report Wednesday that the controversial track-and-kill missions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip had been called off in return for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' efforts to win a truce from armed factions, but did not rule out such a decision in the future. "If there is a real chance of Palestinian action against terrorism, we will consider it," Olmert told Army Radio. Security sources said that for now Israel would target only "ticking bomb" terrorists who pose an immediate danger.
(JTA) - Investment up in Israeli high-tech
Venture capital investment in Israeli high-tech companies rose 45 percent in 2003. The amount invested in 428 companies was $1.46 billion, up from slightly more than $1 billion in 2003, according to a group known as Israel Venture Capital. The number is still a far cry from those posted in 2000, when $3.09 billion was raised.
(JTA) - Australian Jewish lawyer lauded
An Australian man received the country's highest award, in part for his service to the Jewish community. Attorney Mark Leibler received the Companion of the Order of Australia, announced Tuesday. Leibler, 61, was born and educated in Melbourne and is national chairman of the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, life chairman of the United Israel Appeal and governor of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce. He served 10 years as president of the Zionist Federation of Australia and sits on the world executive boards of the Jewish Agency for Israel and world Keren Hayesod United Israel Appeal. He also is a governor of the University of Haifa. His work in the areas of business law, tax and commercial law and reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians also was recognized. Leibler also is deputy chairman of the National Australia Bank Yachad scholarship fund, a $5 million project that sends Aboriginal students to Israel for further study.
(JTA) - Bush remembers Auschwitz liberation
President Bush issued a statement remembering the victims of Auschwitz. ``At the Auschwitz concentration camp, evil found willing servants and innocent victims," Bush said in the statement Tuesday. ``For almost five years, Auschwitz was a factory for murder where more than a million lives were taken. It is a sobering reminder of the power of evil and the need for people to oppose evil wherever it exists. It is a reminder that when we find anti-Semitism, we must come together to fight it." Bush noted that Thursday is the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. ``May God bless their memory and their families, and may we always remember,'' Bush said of the victims.
(JTA) - Gaza deployment widened
Palestinian and Israeli officials agreed to boost a 2,000-strong deployment of Palestinian security men around the Gaza Strip border. So far, the deployment has helped prevent rocket and mortar launches from the strip against Israeli targets. It was not immediately clear how many more Palestinian Authority security personnel would be involved. Also on Tuesday, P.A. police tore down illegal buildings along the Gaza City beachfront, part of P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas' efforts to restore law and order in the Gaza Strip.
(JTA) - Report on P.A. anti-Semitism
The Palestinian Authority is promoting hatred of Jews and Israel, a new report claims. Prepared by Palestinian Media Watch, the report says hatred of Jews is promoted in a systematic way in the Palestinian areas. "As in Nazi Germany, there is an entire 'culture of hatred' in Palestinian society today, from textbooks to crossword puzzles, from day camps to TV music videos," Israel's diaspora affairs minister, Natan Sharansky, said in presenting the report Tuesday. Based on an eight-year-long study of Palestinian Authority television and newspapers, the report said a message is being consistently promoted that Islam affirms the killing of Israelis and Jews.
(JTA) - Schroeder contrite on Holocaust
Germany's chancellor discussed the country's shame and historical burden at an event marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Speaking Tuesday to an audience that included many survivors, Gerhard Schroeder spoke of "shame before those who were murdered and to you, who survived the hell of the concentration camps." "We carry this burden in mourning, but also with a serious sense of responsibility," he said. The event, a Holocaust remembrance program at the Deutsches Theater organized by the Berlin-based International Auschwitz Committee, is one of many planned in Germany this week to commemorate the Soviet army's liberation of the death camp.
(JTA) - Chirac inaugurates monument
France's president inaugurated a monument to the 76,000 Jews rounded up in France during the Holocaust. Speaking Tuesday, Jacques Chirac described anti-Semitism as a "perversion that kills" and vowed French support for Israel. The Wall of Names, with writing inscribed on pale stone walls, is part of a renovated Holocaust memorial in Paris' Jewish quarter that has been transformed from an archive center and expanded.
(JTA) - Russian anti-Semitic letter recalled
The Russian lawmaker who initiated a letter suggesting Judaism should be banned as an extremist faith recalled the document. Alexander Krutov, a Duma deputy and media personality long known for his anti-Semitic views, did not explain why he decided to recall the letter, which urged the prosecutor general to probe and possibly ban all Jewish institutions in Russia. Analysts, however, speculated that it could have been due to Kremlin interference. All but one of the 20 Parliament members who signed the letter have revoked their signatures, Russian media reported. The prosecutor general's office said it never received a copy of the document. Russia's Foreign Ministry criticized the letter Tuesday, saying it had nothing to do with Russia's official policy toward Judaism.
(JTA) - Poland to fund Jewish museum
Polish leaders agreed to contribute $26 million to build a Jewish museum in Warsaw. The museum is slated to be completed by 2008, Polish officials said Tuesday. Nongovernmental donations are expected to supply the remaining $50 million cost. The museum will be built next to the monument that marks the site of the Warsaw Ghetto.
(JTA) - McGovern: Auschwitz should have been target
George McGovern said he could have bombed the Auschwitz concentration camp when he was an Air Force pilot during World War II. McGovern, a former U.S. senator and the 1972 Democratic nominee for president, said in an interview aired Tuesday that the Franklin Roosevelt administration made a "strategic mistake" when it chose not to order bombing raids on the camp's gas chambers. There is no consensus among historians on whether an Allied bombing on Auschwitz was possible, and whether it would have saved Jewish lives. But McGovern is certain. "There is no question we should have attempted" to "go after Auschwitz. There was a pretty good chance we could have blasted those rail lines off the face of the earth, which would have interrupted the flow of people to those death chambers, and we had a pretty good chance of knocking out those gas ovens," he said. McGovern's comments appear in a new film, "They Looked Away," which was aired Tuesday at a congressional gathering in Washington sponsored by the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and the U.S. House of Representatives' International Relations Committee's Task Force on Anti-Semitism.
(JTA) - Bush pressed to protest Israeli action
Americans for Peace Now asked the Bush administration to press Israel not to seize Palestinian property in eastern Jerusalem. Reports in recent days have suggested that Israel could use a 1950 law to confiscate property that West Bank Palestinians have been tending for years in eastern Jerusalem. "Resolving the conflict over Jerusalem is hard enough without the Israeli government adding a new 'fact on the ground' in the form of land confiscation," said Debra DeLee, APN's president and CEO. "President Bush should not sit idly by while Palestinians are stripped of their property and the hopes of achieving a two-state solution are diminished."
(JTA) - Syria confirms missile sale
Bashar Assad confirmed that Syria is seeking to buy Russian anti-aircraft missiles, saying they are needed for self-defense. "This is a defensive, air defense, weapon," the Syrian president told reporters Tuesday during a visit to Moscow. "If Israel is against us buying it, it means it wants to invade our airspace. The Israeli stance is illogical." Russia previously had denied Israeli reports that it planned to sell Syria an undisclosed number of SA-18 shoulder-fired missiles. Israel fears the weapons could find their way into the hands of Hezbollah or Palestinian terrorist groups, all of which are backed by Damascus.
(JTA) - Sharon: Never again
Ariel Sharon vowed that Israel would never allow a repeat of the Holocaust. "The Jews have one small country, blessed with talents," the Israeli prime minister said Tuesday in a meeting with Israel Air Force pilots who took part in a symbolic flight over Auschwitz last year. "We must remember that this is the only place in the world where Jews have the right and the power to defend themselves." Speaking before Thursday's worldwide commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the death camp's liberation, Sharon said the 2003 overflight was a "warning that Israel will never allow such a thing to happen again."
(JTA) - Rabbi reads Isaiah at national service
An Orthodox rabbi read a biblical passage in Hebrew at the national prayer service. President Bush's inaugural committee assigned passages from Isaiah to Rabbi Morton Yolkut at last Friday's post-inaugural service at Washington's National Cathedral. Yolkut, a rabbi at the traditional Shaare Shamayim-Beth Judah Synagogue in Philadelphia, read the passage in Hebrew and in English.
(JTA) - Ackerman: Get tough with Hezbollah TV
A Jewish congressman wants to see tougher restrictions imposed on a Hezbollah-affiliated television station. The State Department last month placed Al-Manar on a terrorism watch list that restricts immigration rights of its employees and associates. But some organizations want the station placed on lists with tougher restrictions, as has been done with Hezbollah. "Excluding its members from the United States is simply insufficient to prevent U.S. companies from doing business with al-Manar," said the letter circulated Tuesday by Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.). "We are strongly of the opinion that al-Manar, as the voice of a terrorist group, can not be allowed to shield its complicity in terrorism behind the First Amendment."
(JTA) - Porn vs. piety
A religious Israeli inmate was deprived of kosher food as punishment for keeping sexually explicit material in his cell. Gur Hamel, who is serving a life sentence for murdering a Palestinian olive-picker in the West Bank, appealed to Tel Aviv District Court on Monday against the Prisons Service's penalty. He argued that the pornographic magazine found in his cell was a one-time slip-up. The Prisons Service, which previously had supplied the convict with a variety of food cleared by fervently Orthodox authorities, did not immediately respond to the appeal. JTA END
(JTA) - Sharon-Abbas summit seen
Ariel Sharon may meet Mahmoud Abbas next month, officials said. Aides to the two leaders met Wednesday in Jerusalem after the Israeli prime minister lifted a ban on diplomatic contacts with the Palestinian Authority that were imposed after a recent terrorist attack. According to political sources, the aides agreed to convene again next week with a view to setting up a summit, the first since Abbas succeeded Yasser Arafat as P.A. president. The summit, expected next month, could boost efforts to get the U.S.-led "road map" peace plan back on track. In addition, U.S. envoy William Burns was due to visit Israel and the West Bank on Wednesday to advance peacemaking efforts.
(JTA) - Columbia conference postponed
A Columbia University conference on the Middle East, which Israel's ambassador refused to attend, is being postponed. The Second Annual Forum on International Conflict Resolution: Revisiting the Middle East Peace Process, scheduled for Thursday, was postponed after Israel's U.S. ambassador, Danny Ayalon, canceled his appearance due to controversy surrounding charges of faculty intimidation toward pro-Israel students at Columbia. The university has assembled a panel to investigate those charges. Jewish organizations and Israeli officials asked Columbia to postpone the conference until after the panel issues a report, due in February. In a statement, conference coordinator and former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell said he was canceling the conference because "several government officials Israeli, Palestinian and American who had agreed to participate have informed me that they will be unable to attend because they must remain in or travel to the Middle East this week."
(JTA) - ADL petitions Vatican
The Anti-Defamation League wants the Vatican to release its Holocaust-era baptismal records. The ADL is gathering signatures on a letter asking the Vatican to disclose its records. The move was in reaction to the discovery of a Vatican letter to French authorities asking them not to return Jewish children hidden during the war to their parents or Jewish communities. "There may be many Jewish children who were rescued and baptized who, to this day, are not aware of their true origins," the ADL wrote. "The Vatican has an obligation to allow these fortunate survivors of the Holocaust a complete understanding of their heritage and history."
(JTA) - Gaza settlers up in arms
Israeli settlers and police scuffled in the Gaza Strip over the deployment of Palestinian Authority security forces. Two settlers were hurt and five detained in Wednesday's confrontation at Neveh Dekalim, which took place as Israeli officials were meeting their P.A. counterparts to agree on ways of stopping Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks on Israel. Under the agreement, the Palestinian Authority is to deploy 2,000 police in southern Gaza, the site of arms smuggling from adjoining Egypt. A similar deployment in the northern part of the strip last week greatly diminished the number of terrorist attacks from the area. The Neveh Dekalim scuffles forced Israeli and Palestinian officers to reconvene at a fortified installation in the nearby Gush Katif junction.
(JTA) - Blast from the past
Ariel Sharon accused some of Israel's critics of being motivated by anti-Semitism. "The legitimate self-defense measures Israel takes in its war against Palestinian terror measures any sovereign state would be obliged to take in order to safeguard its residents are presented by various anti-Semites as Nazi-style acts of aggression," the Israeli prime minister said Wednesday in a Knesset address ahead of international commemorations Thursday of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. "This phenomenon, of Jews protecting themselves and fighting back, is deemed outrageous by the new anti-Semites." Alluding to Iran and Arabs sworn to the Jewish state's destruction, Sharon vowed never to let down his guard. "Sixty years after the liberation of Auschwitz, the evil that begat the horror still exists, and still poses a threat," he said. "We must always remember that this is the only place in the world in which we, the Jews, have the right and the power to protect ourselves, with our own forces, and we will never give this up."
(JTA) - Deer mauls Holocaust survivor
A Holocaust survivor and sculptor was hurt Monday night when a 10-point buck smashed a window in his Columbus, Ohio home. Alfred Tibor, 84, was wounded on his wrist and stomach and bled badly after the deer mauled him Monday. His wife flagged down a passing motorist for help while Tibor fended off the animal rampaging inside his home. Columbus police shot and killed the deer. Tibor's wife said he likely will be released from the hospital on Thursday. Tibor, a well-known artist, was born Alfred Goldstein in Hungary; Tibor was the first name of his murdered brother. Most of his family was killed in the Holocaust, and his art often reflects his wartime experiences.
(JTA) - Tourist or spy?
A Dane under arrest in Israel was accused of spying for Hezbollah. Police said Wednesday that Iyyad Ashua, a Lebanese-born Palestinian who immigrated to Denmark in 1986, came to Israel last month to gather intelligence for the Lebanese terrorist group and recruit Israeli Arabs for terrorist attacks. Ashua, 39, was arrested Jan. 6 after train guards noticed him filming military installations. Ashua's family told Danish media he came to Israel as a tourist and was taking pictures of "Palestine" to show his children. He is to be officially charged with espionage Thursday. Two Israeli Arabs also were detained in the case.
(JTA) - Natalie goes native
Oscar-nominated actress Natalie Portman's latest project is an Israeli movie. Director Amos Gitai said Wednesday that filming was about to begin on "Free Zone," in which the Jerusalem-born Portman plays one of three women involved in selling cars between Israel and Jordan. "In this film, she speaks both Hebrew and English," Gitai, who has won accolades for his politically charged work, told Army Radio. "Obviously she understood that the terms would not be the same as on a Hollywood movie, but she was very keen to get involved." Portman won a Golden Globe for best supporting actress in "Closer" and is nominated for an Academy Award in the same category.
(JTA) - Last rites for next-to-last Jew
One of Afghanistan's two known remaining Jews died. Yitzhak Levi succumbed to complications from diabetes in Kabul last week at age 80. His death leaves only one Jew in Afghanistan, Zebulon Simentov. Levi's family, which lives in Israel, is hoping to take his remains for burial in Israel. After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Jewish groups offered to help Levi emigrate, but he refused. Most Afghan Jews left after the creation of Israel in 1948 or during subsequent unrest in their country.
(JTA) - Hits on hold?
Israel could halt its assassinations of senior Palestinian terrorists if they cease fire, an Israeli Cabinet minister said. Ehud Olmert denied a Ma'ariv report Wednesday that the controversial track-and-kill missions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip had been called off in return for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' efforts to win a truce from armed factions, but did not rule out such a decision in the future. "If there is a real chance of Palestinian action against terrorism, we will consider it," Olmert told Army Radio. Security sources said that for now Israel would target only "ticking bomb" terrorists who pose an immediate danger.
(JTA) - Investment up in Israeli high-tech
Venture capital investment in Israeli high-tech companies rose 45 percent in 2003. The amount invested in 428 companies was $1.46 billion, up from slightly more than $1 billion in 2003, according to a group known as Israel Venture Capital. The number is still a far cry from those posted in 2000, when $3.09 billion was raised.
(JTA) - Australian Jewish lawyer lauded
An Australian man received the country's highest award, in part for his service to the Jewish community. Attorney Mark Leibler received the Companion of the Order of Australia, announced Tuesday. Leibler, 61, was born and educated in Melbourne and is national chairman of the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, life chairman of the United Israel Appeal and governor of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce. He served 10 years as president of the Zionist Federation of Australia and sits on the world executive boards of the Jewish Agency for Israel and world Keren Hayesod United Israel Appeal. He also is a governor of the University of Haifa. His work in the areas of business law, tax and commercial law and reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians also was recognized. Leibler also is deputy chairman of the National Australia Bank Yachad scholarship fund, a $5 million project that sends Aboriginal students to Israel for further study.
(JTA) - Bush remembers Auschwitz liberation
President Bush issued a statement remembering the victims of Auschwitz. ``At the Auschwitz concentration camp, evil found willing servants and innocent victims," Bush said in the statement Tuesday. ``For almost five years, Auschwitz was a factory for murder where more than a million lives were taken. It is a sobering reminder of the power of evil and the need for people to oppose evil wherever it exists. It is a reminder that when we find anti-Semitism, we must come together to fight it." Bush noted that Thursday is the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. ``May God bless their memory and their families, and may we always remember,'' Bush said of the victims.
(JTA) - Gaza deployment widened
Palestinian and Israeli officials agreed to boost a 2,000-strong deployment of Palestinian security men around the Gaza Strip border. So far, the deployment has helped prevent rocket and mortar launches from the strip against Israeli targets. It was not immediately clear how many more Palestinian Authority security personnel would be involved. Also on Tuesday, P.A. police tore down illegal buildings along the Gaza City beachfront, part of P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas' efforts to restore law and order in the Gaza Strip.
(JTA) - Report on P.A. anti-Semitism
The Palestinian Authority is promoting hatred of Jews and Israel, a new report claims. Prepared by Palestinian Media Watch, the report says hatred of Jews is promoted in a systematic way in the Palestinian areas. "As in Nazi Germany, there is an entire 'culture of hatred' in Palestinian society today, from textbooks to crossword puzzles, from day camps to TV music videos," Israel's diaspora affairs minister, Natan Sharansky, said in presenting the report Tuesday. Based on an eight-year-long study of Palestinian Authority television and newspapers, the report said a message is being consistently promoted that Islam affirms the killing of Israelis and Jews.
(JTA) - Schroeder contrite on Holocaust
Germany's chancellor discussed the country's shame and historical burden at an event marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Speaking Tuesday to an audience that included many survivors, Gerhard Schroeder spoke of "shame before those who were murdered and to you, who survived the hell of the concentration camps." "We carry this burden in mourning, but also with a serious sense of responsibility," he said. The event, a Holocaust remembrance program at the Deutsches Theater organized by the Berlin-based International Auschwitz Committee, is one of many planned in Germany this week to commemorate the Soviet army's liberation of the death camp.
(JTA) - Chirac inaugurates monument
France's president inaugurated a monument to the 76,000 Jews rounded up in France during the Holocaust. Speaking Tuesday, Jacques Chirac described anti-Semitism as a "perversion that kills" and vowed French support for Israel. The Wall of Names, with writing inscribed on pale stone walls, is part of a renovated Holocaust memorial in Paris' Jewish quarter that has been transformed from an archive center and expanded.
(JTA) - Russian anti-Semitic letter recalled
The Russian lawmaker who initiated a letter suggesting Judaism should be banned as an extremist faith recalled the document. Alexander Krutov, a Duma deputy and media personality long known for his anti-Semitic views, did not explain why he decided to recall the letter, which urged the prosecutor general to probe and possibly ban all Jewish institutions in Russia. Analysts, however, speculated that it could have been due to Kremlin interference. All but one of the 20 Parliament members who signed the letter have revoked their signatures, Russian media reported. The prosecutor general's office said it never received a copy of the document. Russia's Foreign Ministry criticized the letter Tuesday, saying it had nothing to do with Russia's official policy toward Judaism.
(JTA) - Poland to fund Jewish museum
Polish leaders agreed to contribute $26 million to build a Jewish museum in Warsaw. The museum is slated to be completed by 2008, Polish officials said Tuesday. Nongovernmental donations are expected to supply the remaining $50 million cost. The museum will be built next to the monument that marks the site of the Warsaw Ghetto.
(JTA) - McGovern: Auschwitz should have been target
George McGovern said he could have bombed the Auschwitz concentration camp when he was an Air Force pilot during World War II. McGovern, a former U.S. senator and the 1972 Democratic nominee for president, said in an interview aired Tuesday that the Franklin Roosevelt administration made a "strategic mistake" when it chose not to order bombing raids on the camp's gas chambers. There is no consensus among historians on whether an Allied bombing on Auschwitz was possible, and whether it would have saved Jewish lives. But McGovern is certain. "There is no question we should have attempted" to "go after Auschwitz. There was a pretty good chance we could have blasted those rail lines off the face of the earth, which would have interrupted the flow of people to those death chambers, and we had a pretty good chance of knocking out those gas ovens," he said. McGovern's comments appear in a new film, "They Looked Away," which was aired Tuesday at a congressional gathering in Washington sponsored by the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and the U.S. House of Representatives' International Relations Committee's Task Force on Anti-Semitism.
(JTA) - Bush pressed to protest Israeli action
Americans for Peace Now asked the Bush administration to press Israel not to seize Palestinian property in eastern Jerusalem. Reports in recent days have suggested that Israel could use a 1950 law to confiscate property that West Bank Palestinians have been tending for years in eastern Jerusalem. "Resolving the conflict over Jerusalem is hard enough without the Israeli government adding a new 'fact on the ground' in the form of land confiscation," said Debra DeLee, APN's president and CEO. "President Bush should not sit idly by while Palestinians are stripped of their property and the hopes of achieving a two-state solution are diminished."
(JTA) - Syria confirms missile sale
Bashar Assad confirmed that Syria is seeking to buy Russian anti-aircraft missiles, saying they are needed for self-defense. "This is a defensive, air defense, weapon," the Syrian president told reporters Tuesday during a visit to Moscow. "If Israel is against us buying it, it means it wants to invade our airspace. The Israeli stance is illogical." Russia previously had denied Israeli reports that it planned to sell Syria an undisclosed number of SA-18 shoulder-fired missiles. Israel fears the weapons could find their way into the hands of Hezbollah or Palestinian terrorist groups, all of which are backed by Damascus.
(JTA) - Sharon: Never again
Ariel Sharon vowed that Israel would never allow a repeat of the Holocaust. "The Jews have one small country, blessed with talents," the Israeli prime minister said Tuesday in a meeting with Israel Air Force pilots who took part in a symbolic flight over Auschwitz last year. "We must remember that this is the only place in the world where Jews have the right and the power to defend themselves." Speaking before Thursday's worldwide commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the death camp's liberation, Sharon said the 2003 overflight was a "warning that Israel will never allow such a thing to happen again."
(JTA) - Rabbi reads Isaiah at national service
An Orthodox rabbi read a biblical passage in Hebrew at the national prayer service. President Bush's inaugural committee assigned passages from Isaiah to Rabbi Morton Yolkut at last Friday's post-inaugural service at Washington's National Cathedral. Yolkut, a rabbi at the traditional Shaare Shamayim-Beth Judah Synagogue in Philadelphia, read the passage in Hebrew and in English.
(JTA) - Ackerman: Get tough with Hezbollah TV
A Jewish congressman wants to see tougher restrictions imposed on a Hezbollah-affiliated television station. The State Department last month placed Al-Manar on a terrorism watch list that restricts immigration rights of its employees and associates. But some organizations want the station placed on lists with tougher restrictions, as has been done with Hezbollah. "Excluding its members from the United States is simply insufficient to prevent U.S. companies from doing business with al-Manar," said the letter circulated Tuesday by Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.). "We are strongly of the opinion that al-Manar, as the voice of a terrorist group, can not be allowed to shield its complicity in terrorism behind the First Amendment."
(JTA) - Porn vs. piety
A religious Israeli inmate was deprived of kosher food as punishment for keeping sexually explicit material in his cell. Gur Hamel, who is serving a life sentence for murdering a Palestinian olive-picker in the West Bank, appealed to Tel Aviv District Court on Monday against the Prisons Service's penalty. He argued that the pornographic magazine found in his cell was a one-time slip-up. The Prisons Service, which previously had supplied the convict with a variety of food cleared by fervently Orthodox authorities, did not immediately respond to the appeal. JTA END
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| Evolution cases expose Orthodox vs. liberal rifts |
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