A Brown University freshman who had served in the Israeli army was killed by an allegedly drunken driver.\n\nThe death of Avi Schaefer, 21, sent reverberations through two continents, from the campus community in Providence, R.I., to the Lone Soldier Center in Jerusalem.\n
It’s truly disappointing for a law school dean, Erwin Chemerinsky of the University of California, Irvine, to make so many false and misleading statements about anti-Semitism and Israel-bashing at UCI, UCI’s abysmal response, and the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA).
In light of our status as the People of the Book, there is no doubt one of our Top Jews is the visionary Stuart Matlins. An accomplished businessman, Matlins left a lucrative career in management consulting to create Jewish Lights Publishing (www.jewishlights.com), which is now a major force in Jewish publishing. Visit jinsider.com to hear Matlins’ insights on Judaism, the Jewish community and Jewish books. Here are some of the highlights:\n
Israel has given the green light for 600 new homes in a Jewish settlement in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, the Haaretz daily reported on Friday.\n\nThe development in the Pisgat Zeev neighbourhood, which has been planned for some years, was approved with modifications by the interior ministry\’s Jerusalem district urban planning committee on January 12, a document obtained by AFP showed.
Anti-Semitic incidents in Canada rose to record levels, according to B’nai Brith Canada’s annual audit.\n\nThe yearly survey released Wednesday showed an 11.4 percent increase in incidents in 2009 over the previous year to reach the highest number ever reported in the audit’s 28-year history.\n
The European Court of Justice has ruled that Israeli goods made in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank cannot be considered Israeli.\n\nThis means goods made by Israelis or Jews in the West Bank cannot benefit from a trade deal giving Israel preferential access to EU markets.\n
In Israel itself, people know better. A wonderful example of this is the gripping new film Ajami, which was written and directed by Scandar Copti — an Arab Israeli — and Yaron Shani, an Israeli Jew. The movie takes its name from its setting, the Ajami neighborhood in the port city of Jaffa, which is something of a bumper-car rink filled with daily collisions between Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs — both Muslim and Christian — and Palestinians who\’ve entered the country illegally.
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