National briefs
By JTA
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Historian Friedlander wins Pulitzer Prize
NEW YORK (JTA)—Holocaust historian Saul Friedlander won a Pulitzer Prize. Friedlander, 75, was awarded a Pulitzer in the general nonfiction category this month for his book “The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945.” The prize comes with a $10,000 purse.
The Prague-born Friedlander survived the Holocaust and moved to Israel, eventually winning the nation’s top civilian honor, the Israel Prize, for his scholarship. He currently serves as a UCLA professor.
Other Jews who were honored with Pulitzer Prizes include David Lang, co-founder and co-artistic director of the music collective Bang on a Can, who was awarded a Pulitzer in music for his composition “The Little Match Girl Passion.” Jewish singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, born Robert Zimmerman, received a special Pulitzer.
Hagel: Israelis warned Washington on Iraq
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Israeli security officials warned Americans about potential complications of an Iraq invasion, according to a U.S. senator. Writing in his book released last month, “America: Our Next Chapter,” Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) excoriates the Bush administration for ignoring Middle East leaders who warned of a possible quagmire in Iraq before the 2003 invasion.
“Do you really understand what you are getting yourselves into?” he quotes Israeli officials as telling him. Hagel expanded on the warnings in a recent interview with CNN. “Every major leader in the Middle East that I talked to, and I certainly know the president and others talked to before we invaded Iraq, warned the president, warned the vice president, warned Secretary Powell not to do this,” said Hagel, a maverick Republican who opposed the war, referring to Colin Powell, then the secretary of state. “Even a number of senior Israeli officials warned them not to do it.” In his book, Hagel advocates for an independent or bipartisan presidential ticket. He is leaving the Senate at the end of his term this year.
Funders reject PMW on Ma’an
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Western funders of a Palestinian media service rejected a report by a watchdog that said the service incites hatred. The Palestinian Media Watch report said that Ma’an, the news service, routinely referred to terrorists as “martyrs” and to areas inside Israel as “occupied.” “Hate incitement, including denial of Israel’s existence and glorifying terror, is universally accepted as a paramount cause of continued Palestinian terror,” PMW said in its report released April 3.
“These governments, together with governments who have blindly funded Palestinian schoolbooks, bear direct moral responsibility for the continued hatred that is being ingrained into future Palestinian generations, and bear a moral responsibility for the terror and its victims.” Ma’an is funded by the Dutch and Danish governments. A spokesman for the Dutch government told The Jerusalem Post that the examples cited were “mistakes” made by novices that had been corrected. In its reply, Ma’an cited a dictionary to show that the Arabic word “shahid” referred to those killed in action as well as religious martyrs. It also said that the reference for “occupation” outside of the West Bank was in east Jerusalem, an area Israel has annexed but that the Palestinians still claim for their capital. PMW has made inroads in influencing U.S. policy on incitement, with testimony in Congress and a close relationship with Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).