Around the Jewish World

By JEWISH REVIEW

article created on: 2010-08-15T00:00:00

MIDDLE EAST
Bibi: Direct peace talks
look set for mid-August

JERUSALEM (JTA)—Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians could begin as early as mid-August, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

The Israeli leader told his Cabinet Aug. 1 that the timing has not been confirmed, but “It appears that direct talks will begin in mid-August.”

The announcement came just days after the Arab League said it would back direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians when the Palestinians are ready to proceed, and also expressed support for continuing indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Palestinians had submitted a “far-reaching” peace proposal to President Obama that would end the conflict with Israel and resolve all Palestinian claims, Haaretz reported on Aug. 2.
Poll: Arab majority believes nuclear Iran helps Mideast

WASHINGTON (JTA)—The percentage of Arabs who believe a nuclear-armed Iran will help the Middle East situation has doubled since last year.

The annual Brookings Institute poll, released Aug. 5, found that 57 percent of Arabs think a nuclear-armed Iran will cause a “more positive” situation in the Middle East, up from 29 percent last year.

Meanwhile, 63 percent of respondents were “discouraged” by the Obama administration’s Middle East policies. Last year, 51 percent of Arabs polled said they were “hopeful.”

The survey was conducted between June 29 and July 30 in Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Nearly 4,000 Arabs were questioned, with a 1.6 percent margin of error.

Israel to deport some
migrant workers’ children

JERUSALEM (JTA)—Some 800 children of foreign workers will be allowed to remain in Israel, while another 400 will be deported.

The Israeli Cabinet in a vote Aug. 1 approved the recommendations of an interministerial committee on the status of foreign workers’ children. The vote was 13 to 10 to approve the recommendations, with four ministers abstaining.

The committee had recommended that children who meet specific criteria—among them having studied in the state school system in the past year; being registered for the upcoming school year; living in Israel for five consecutive years; being a Hebrew speaker; and having parents who entered Israel on a valid visa—be allowed to remain.

“This decision is influenced by two main considerations—of humanity and Zionism,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly said during the Cabinet meeting. “We are searching for a way to absorb and take into our hearts children who grew up here and were educated here as Israelis. On the other hand, we do not want to create an incentive for hundreds of thousands of illegal labor migrants to flood the country.”

Libyan charity to build in Gaza

(JTA)—A Libyan charity announced a $50 million deal to build homes for refugees in Gaza.

The announcement Aug. 9 by the Gadhafi Foundation, run by a son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, comes on the heels of the release of an Israeli national held in a Libyan prison for a deal reported to include permission to build the homes.

The charity said it signed an agreement with the United Nations Relief and Welfare Agency to rebuild 1,250 homes destroyed during the month-long Gaza war that began in December 2008.

Israel reportedly agreed to allow necessary equipment into Gaza to allow the building. While the ban on allowing most products to enter Gaza has been lifted, some dual-use construction materials continue to be banned.

Razing buildings sparks clashes

JERUSALEM (JTA)—West Bank settlers clashed with Israeli police officers following the destruction of wooden structures that served as homes on an outpost near Kiryat Arba.

Police and Civil Administration officials destroyed at least five wooden structures Aug. 5 at the Mitzpe Avihai outpost, home to some five families. One of the structures was used as a synagogue.

Kiryat Arba residents threw stones at police cars and officers afterward and were removed forcibly by police, according to Haaretz. Five protesters were injured; four others were arrested.

Settlers also reportedly set fire to nearby Palestinian fields in reaction to the demolitions. The outpost reportedly has been demolished and rebuilt several times in recent months.

Rockets strike Eilat

JERUSALEM (JTA)—Five rockets suspected to have been fired from Sinai hit Eilat and Aqaba Aug. 2.

A Jordanian man was killed and three people were wounded when one of the rockets hit central Aqaba, a Jordanian Red Sea port city. There were no casualties reported in Eilat, where the rocket struck north of the hotel area.

Israel’s military said it was in contact with the Jordanian and Egyptian armies following the incident.

Explosions rocked the southern Israeli port city of Eilat. The attacks come just days after a Grad-style Katyusha rocket and Kassam rockets fired from Gaza struck the western Negev.

Egyptian officials told Israeli media that the attack could not have originated from Sinai, which they said is heavily secured.

Israel 8th happiest country

NEW YORK (JTA)—Israel was tied for eighth among the happiest countries in the world, according to a new survey.

In a Gallup World Poll of 155 nations, the Jewish state tied with Canada, Switzerland and Australia.

Forbes, which posted the list Aug. 5, said the richest countries were by and large the happiest. Scandinavian countries dominated—Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands took the top five spots.

The United States ranked 14th, three spots ahead of Britain, in a survey that asked thousands of respondents to give a “life evaluation” score from 1 to 10. The survey, taken between 2005 and 2009, catalogued their daily feelings to decide what percentage of people in each country were “thriving, struggling or suffering.”

African nations fared poorly, with Sierra Leone, Comoros, Burundi and Togo ranking in the bottom five. They were joined by Cambodia as the unhappiest countries.

Israel finished well ahead of its neighbors in happiness, with Jordan ranking 52, Lebanon 73, and Egypt and Syria 115. The Palestinian territories were No. 88.

The happiest country in the Americas was Costa Rica, which came in at No. 6 worldwide.

THE NATION

Congress boosts funding for Israel-U.S. defense systems

WASHINGTON (JTA)—A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee allocated a record amount for U.S.-Israel missile defense systems.

The Appropriations Defense Subcommittee allocated $217.7 million for the joint U.S.-Israel systems in the 2011 fiscal year—$95.7 million more than the Obama administration’s original request. It comes in addition to the $3 billion in defense assistance that Israel receives each year from the United States.

Last year, Congress funded the program with $202.4 million, which was $82.8 million above the Obama administration’s request. Nearly $1 billion has been allocated for U.S.-Israel defense cooperation since 2007.

The money funds the Arrow and David’s Sling missile systems.

Rabbi co-officiates wedding
of Clinton, Mezvinsky

NEW YORK (JTA)—Chelsea Clinton was married July 31 under a chuppah in a ceremony co-officiated by a rabbi.

Rabbi James Ponet, head of the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale, was joined by the Rev. William Shillady, a Methodist minister. Clinton and the groom, Marc Mezvinsky, reportedly were married under a chuppah, in a ceremony in Rhinebeck, N.Y, that featured friends and family reciting the seven traditional blessings and a ketubah, the traditional Jewish wedding contract. The event took place Saturday night before the end of Shabbat.

Mezvinsky, who is Jewish, wore a yarmulke and prayer shawl.

Mitch Miller dies

(JTA)—Mitch Miller, a band leader who won fame as the host of the “Sing Along With Mitch” television show, has died.

Miller, also an executive at Columbia Records who guided the careers of such stars as Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett, Jerry Vale, Marty Robbins, Johnny Mathis and Mahalia Jackson, died Aug. 7 in New York. He was 99.

Miller’s band, Mitch Miller and the Gang, hit No. 1 in 1955 with “The Yellow Rose of Texas” and had hit albums that included a series of sing-along records. This led to the “Sing Along With Mitch” series in 1961, which enjoyed high ratings until it ended in 1966. Miller also was a highly regarded oboist.

The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Miller also recorded a choral-orchestral version of the Israeli folk song “Tzena, Tzena, Tzena.”

Miller disliked rock-and-roll. During his tenure with the record company, he turned down Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly for contracts.
iKaddish teaches prayer

(JTA)—A new iPhone application teaches the recitation of the Kaddish, the mourner’s prayer recited daily in synagogue.

The free tutorial program iKaddish 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch was released Aug. 9 by the Chicago-based Davka Corp.

Congressman fires aide
over Jewish money comment

NEW YORK (JTA)—A New York congressman fired his campaign spokesperson after she told a reporter that the lawmaker’s opponent had “received a lot of Jewish money.”

U.S. Rep. Mike McMahon (D-N.Y.) fired Jennifer Nelson, the communications director for his re-election effort, after she distributed a list titled Grimm Jewish Money Q2. McMahons opponent in the Staten Island race is Republican Michael Grimm.

“Where is Grimm’s money coming from,” Nelson was quoted in The New York Observer. “There is a lot of Jewish money, a lot of money from people in Florida and Manhattan, retirees.”

New name for Conservatives?

NEW YORK (JTA)—The leader of Conservative Judaism’s flagship institution said the movement is debating a name change.

Arnold Eisen, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, made the comment in a July 22 meeting with reporters and editors at the Forward, the newspaper reported.

“I’m open to it. I’m open to it,” Eisen reportedly said when asked about the possibility of a name change.

The newspaper quoted Eisen as saying that the “leading candidate right now” is the name “Masorti,” the Hebrew word for “traditional,” which is the name Conservative Judaism goes by in Israel and other countries outside of North America.

U.S. firms tied to Dubai slaying

(JTA)—Money transfers made via U.S. companies may have helped finance the January assassination of a top Hamas leader, the Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 7.

The transfers were discovered by American investigators cooperating with the probe into the Jan. 20 assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a hotel room in Dubai.

Some 33 members of an assassination team widely speculated to have been agents of Israel’s Mossad used forged passports from Britain, Ireland, Australia and Germany to enter and leave Dubai. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.

Following the trail of the money transfers made through the U.S. companies could provide clues to identifying the suspects in the case, sources told the Journal. The companies include Internet-based businesses that process payments between employers and freelance employees into prepaid, cash-card accounts. The suspects in the Dubai killing reportedly used such accounts to pay for airplane tickets and hotel rooms.

The companies reportedly did not know the money would be used in the plot.

Earlier this year, Dubai police identified 13 U.S.-isAmerican Jewish Committee brings in ex-AJCongress chief

NEW YORK (JTA)—Two weeks after the American Jewish Congress suspended its operations, the American Jewish Committee has hired its highest-ranking professional.

Marc Stern, the former co-executive director and general counsel for the AJCongress, is the AJC’s new associate general counsel for legal activity, the AJC announced Aug. 9. Stern had been at the American Jewish Congress for 33 years.

The AJCongress, a longtime rival of the American Jewish Committee, officially went on hiatus in mid-July as a result of financial difficulties incurred over the past decade. The fiscal woes were exacerbated when the organization lost most of its assets in the Bernard Madoff scandal.

American Jewish Committee Executive Director David Harris said, “Marc brings unparalleled experience and expertise in international law of war, or lawfare, constitutional and other legal advocacy issues that are of paramount concern to the Jewish community.”

sued cash-card accounts that they said suspects used in the operation, obtained with false passports, the Journal reported.

Sendak gives $1 million to N.Y. Jewish agency

NEW YORK (JTA)—Children’s book author Maurice Sendak has given $1 million to the Jewish Board of Family and Childrens Services of New York.

Sendak, 82, who wrote the iconic childrens book “Where the Wild Things Are,” gave the money in honor of his life partner, Eugene Glynn, a longtime psychiatrist for the organization.

The money will go toward general operating support, and the organization will name one of its 15 clinics after Glynn, who died in 2007, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Hackers hit Buchenwald website

(JTA)—Hackers replaced a list of Buchenwald victims with far-right slogans and links to Holocaust denial sites, officials at the concentration camp’s memorial said.

The Buchenwald foundation said the attack by neo-Nazis on Buchenwald.de took place Aug. 4, according to reports. The site of Mittelbau-Dora, another former camp nearby, also was hacked. Both sites were back up the next day.

The Buchenwald attackers posted messages including “We will return” and “Brown is beautiful.” Brown is a reference to Adolf Hitler’s brown-shirted SA storm troopers.