World Briefs

Sharon Held Responsible

Six Palestinians were killed when Israeli tanks entered a West Bank village, despite U.S. calls for Israel to withdraw from Palestinian-controlled territory. Israel said the six were killed when they opened fire on Israeli troops entering Beit Re’ema on Wednesday, and the Israelis returned fire. During the operation, Israeli soldiers arrested two terrorists allegedly involved in last week’s slaying of Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi, an army official was quoted as saying. Israel said the operation in the village, located near Ramallah, was aimed at rooting out terrorists, but the Palestinian Authority said in a statement that it considers Prime Minister Ariel Sharon “and his chief of staff responsible for this planned massacre.”

Testimony: Rabbi Paid for Murder

A former private investigator testified that a New Jersey rabbi paid him to kill the rabbi’s wife and that the rabbi made the payment while sitting shiva after the murder was committed. Leonard Jenoff gave the testimony last Friday in the trial of Rabbi Fred Neulander, accused of arranging the murder of his wife, Carol, who was found beaten to death at the couple’s home in 1994.

Syria Blames Mossad for Sept. 11

The Syrian defense minister claims that Israel’s Mossad spy agency planned the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and told thousands of Jewish employees at the Twin Towers not to go to work that day, the Jerusalem Post reports. The Jewish conspiracy theory on the Sept. 11 attacks has gained credence across the Muslim world. American Jewish leaders have called on the Bush administration to refute the comments, made by Mustafa Tlas in Damascus, and to condemn them as anti-Semitism.

Teva May Produce Generic Cipro

Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals is one of five drug makers ready to produce generic versions of Cipro to help boost U.S. reserves of the antibiotic used to treat anthrax, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Middle East Book May Be Revised

A U.S. publisher may revise a book on the Arab-Israeli conflict after pressure from pro-Palestinian activists, according to the pro-Israel media monitoring group CAMERA. “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Middle East Conflict” uses straight text, humor and cartoons to give readers an understanding of the roots of Mideast conflicts. According to CAMERA, pro-Palestinian activists have mounted a campaign against the book that includes calling on supporters to have bookstores stop carrying the title.

Michigan Called a Terror Base

Areas of Michigan, home to hundreds of thousands of Arab Americans, are a major financial support center for radical Middle East groups, according to a report submitted to the U.S. Justice Department. The state’s police, which wrote the report, also said Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network, along with Hezbollah and Hamas, were among the groups thought to have a presence in the state.

Emilie Schindler Hailed as Rescuer

Diplomats and politicians attending the funeral of the widow of industrialist Oskar Schindler lauded her efforts to save Jews from the Holocaust. “Without Emilie Schindler, more than 1,200 Jews could not have been saved from a certain demise in the Nazi death camps,” Christa Stewens, social affairs minister for the state of Bavaria, said last Friday during a brief ceremony at the cemetery in the village of Waldkraiburg.

Briefs courtesy of Jewish Telegraphic Agency.