The devil’s greatest trick
I’ve referenced it before but the line at the end of this clip is one of my favorite in American film history. Just caught it again on Encore. Enjoy.
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January 24, 2010
Israel ready to adopt Haitian orphans
Israel is looking into the possibility of adopting orphaned Haitian children.
Israel’s Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog has asked his staff to look into adopting Haitian children who lost their parents in the devastating earthquake on Jan. 12, according to reports in Israel.
“We are proud that Israel aided the horrible distress in Haiti and we have a moral obligation, as human beings, to aid these children,” Herzog told Israel Radio over the weekend.
Herzog has asked Israel’s envoy to the Dominican Republic, Amos Radian, who is also the consular official for Haiti, to submit an official request regarding the adoptions, Haaretz reported.
Israel does not have an official adoption protocol with Haiti, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Israel helps prospective adoptive families by subsidizing the cost of international adoptions. The children are converted to Judaism upon arrival.
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Survivor who testified at Nuremberg, Eichmann trials, dies
Leon Weliczker Wells, a Holocaust survivor who testified at both the Nuremberg and Eichmann trials, has died.
Wells died of cancer Dec. 19 at his home in Fort Lee, N.J., at the age of 84. He was cremated, as per his wishes, having said that his people had gone that way.
He was 17 years old in 1943 when he was among those in the Janowska camp in Lvov forced by the Nazis to dig up and burn the bodies of hundreds of thousands of Jews and some Polish political officials murdered in Lvov in order to hide the truth about the Nazi death camps from the approaching Allies.
Wells testified at the Eichmann trial in Israel in 1961 that he was the only member of his “whole family, including all cousins, uncles,” among 76 to survive the Holocaust. Among those killed were his parents and six siblings.
His harrowing memoir, “The Death Brigade,” first published in 1963 by Macmillan as “The Janowska Road,” is universally considered a classic of Holocaust literature.
“I knew him very well and his work was a very important contribution,” Elie Wiesel, a Noble Peace Prize laureate and Holocaust survivor, told JTA. “Everybody who knew him liked him very much because of his intelligence and sensitivity.”
After World War II, Wells immigrated to the United States, where he taught at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and was a research fellow in the Naval Research Office.
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Pe’er protesters fail to show at Aussie Open
Threats of pro-Palestinian protests in Australia against Israeli tennis star Shahar Pe’er failed to materialize.
There were few Israelis and fewer Israeli flags—and no Palestinian protesters—among the 10,000-plus fans for Pe’er’s match Saturday on center court against Caroline Wozniack of Denmark. Wozniacki, seeded fourth, defeated the 29th-seeded Pe’er, 6-4, 6-0, in the third round of the Australian Open.
Demonstrators had targeted Pe’er, 22, at a tournament earlier this month in Auckland, New Zealand.
The Melbourne-based Australians for Palestine had threatened to protest at the Australian Open against “the unofficial recruiting officer for the country’s armed forces,” but a seclusion zone was imposed around the Rod Laver Arena.
In response to the group, which calls for a sports boycott against the “apartheid state,” Peer told reporters, “It’s unfair because I have nothing to do with politics. I’m only a tennis player who wants to enjoy the tour like other players.”
Peer said that she was not distracted by the security in Melbourne.
“I know that there is security going on around me, and I don’t know exactly how much but I really feel safe,” she told the French news agency AFP. “I’m just focusing on playing tennis. I’m not here to focus on my security or whatever’s going on outside the court.”
Pe’er is headed for her first appearance in Dubai next month after being refused a visa last year to play in a tournament there shortly after Israel launched a military operation in the Gaza Strip. Her denial sparked an international furor.
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Jewish groups protest Jobbik meeting
Protests lodged by several regional Jewish organizations prevented the nationalist Jobbik party from holding a mass pre-election meeting inside a defunct synagogue.
The neglected building in the northern Hungarian city of Esztergom has been used as a cultural center since World War II, when the prosperous local Jewish community was destroyed by the Nazis.
János Knapp, deputy mayor of Esztergom, declared last Friday that the city had withdrawn permission from Jobbik to hold a rally in the building in deference to its citizens murdered during the Holocaust.
The civic authority had rented the central assembly hall of the building for the occasion to a private individual who had failed to specify the identity of the sponsoring organization. The regional Jewish organizations raised their protest with civic authorities after Jobbik launched a last-minute publicity campaign to invite its supporters to the synagogue.
The meeting last Friday was held at a different venue. Jobbik is widely expected to win substantial parliamentary representation in upcoming national elections.
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Netanyahu plants tree in settlement
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planted a tree in a West Bank settlement to mark the Tu b’Shevat festival.
Netanyahu joined community members in planting trees Sunday in Kibbutz Kfar Etzion in Gush Etzion. He was scheduled to plant trees as well at the Maale Adumim and Ariel settlements.
Israelis plant trees from the beginning of the Hebrew month of Shevat until the holiday on the 15th of the month, which falls this year on Jan. 30.
“The message is clear—we are here, and we will stay here,” Netanyahu said Sunday in Kfar Etzion. “We plant and build—this is an inseparable part of the State of Israel forever.”
The planting came several hours after Netanyahu met with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell to discuss ways to restart peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
The Gush Etzion, Maale Adumim and Ariel settlement blocs are widely expected to be part of Israel in any peace settlement.
During Sunday’s Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said of the planting, “This expresses the unity that exists within the nation about how important it is for these places to remain part of the State of Israel forever. I encourage all members of parliament to get out and plant in the [settlement] blocs in our land.”
Netanyahu has called a 10-month freeze on new construction in West Bank settlements.
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Israeli drillers say they struck oil
An Israeli oil exploration team said it has found oil at a drilling site north of the Dead Sea.
The group digging the Tzuk Tamrur 4 oil exploration well said Sunday that it did not know how much oil was located at the site and whether it was enough for commercial purposes, according to reports.
Delek Group Ltd. subsidiaries Avner Oil and Gas and Delek Drilling, together with Zerah Oil and Gas Explorations, began drilling the well last October, according to the Israeli business daily Globes.
The well has been dug to 6,700 feet; the group plans to dig now to 7,000 feet. Once it reaches that depth, the group will decide whether to continue with production tests.
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No progress reported in Mitchell meetings
No progress was reported following a second round of meetings between the U.S. Middle East envoy and the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
George Mitchell extended his visit in order to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and PA President Mahmoud Abbas again separately on Sunday. He had met Thursday with Netanyahu and the next day with Abbas.
Netanyahu and Mitchell met Sunday morning for three hours.
“Today I heard some interesting ideas for renewing the [peace] process,” Netanyahu said at the beginning of Sunday’s regular Cabinet meeting. “I also expressed my hope that these new ideas will allow for the renewal of the process. Certainly if the Palestinians express a similar readiness, then we will find ourselves in a diplomatic process.”
Abbas reportedly told Mitchell that the Palestinians were willing to go back to peace negotiations if there is a complete cessation of Israeli building in the West Bank and no preconditions.
Mitchell left Israel for Jordan on Sunday afternoon, He will also visit Egypt this week in an attempt to advance the peace process.
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In new tape, bin Laden threatens U.S.
A new audio statement allegedly from Osama bin Laden threatens more attacks on U.S. targets “as long as you maintain your support to Israel.”
The statement was broadcast Sunday on the Arabic-language Al-Jazeera television. Although the voice on the tape has not been verified, Al Jazeera said it was that of bin Laden.
In the statement, bin Laden claimed responsibility for the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight.
The al-Qaida leader said he wanted to deliver a message to America: “(T)hat America should not dream of security until we enjoy it as a reality in Palestine.”
“It is not fair that you enjoy a good life while our brothers in Gaza endure the worst standard of living,” bin Laden said. “Therefore, God willing, our attacks against you will continue as long as you maintain your support to Israel.”
Bin Laden has been in hiding, reportedly on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, for the past eight years. Sunday’s message is bin Laden’s first in seven months. He had six in 2009.
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Four arrested for torching Greek synagogue
Four men have been arrested in connection with two arson attacks on a synagogue on the island of Crete.
Two of the men in Greek police custody are British, one is American and one is Greek. They are aged 23 and 33 and have not been named.
The four are being held in the coastal town of Hania, where the Etz Hayim synagogue is located. Police said they are all being held on charges of arson.
The men work as bouncers and waiters at local clubs, according to police.
Asked why they committed the crime, the accused reportedly said it was because they do not like Jews. The Greek man was arrested first, at which point he confessed and gave the names of the others.
The first attack occurred Jan. 5, but it was the second attack on Jan. 16 that caused extensive damage to the synagogue’s interior, its archive material and technical equipment.
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