Transition in Egypt \”must begin now,\” President Obama said. Obama spoke Tuesday about two hours after after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said he would not run in presidential elections scheduled for September, and would prepare for a peaceful handing over of power to his successor.
Four Israeli journalists were arrested in Cairo as anti-government protests in Egypt turned violent.
The Knesset House Committee approved the establishment of parliamentary panels to probe the funding and activities of left-leaning human rights groups and NGOs. The vote to establish two commissions of inquiries passed the committee Wednesday by a vote of 10 to 6.
The appointment of Israel\’s new military chief of staff has been canceled because of a scandal over personal real estate. Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant had been set to succeed Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi later this month. Galant allegedly took over several acres of public land near his home on a moshav in northern Israel.
A Tunisian synagogue was not the target of arsonists, a Jewish leader asserted, contradicting another leader. Jewish community leader Perez Trabelsi on Tuesday told the French news agency AFP that the synagogue in the southern Gabes region was burned Monday night by arsonists; he said the Torah scrolls were damaged in the fire. \”I condemn this action and I believe those who did it want to create divisions between Jews and Muslims in Tunisia who have lived for decades in peace,\” Trabelsi later told Reuters.
Parashat Terumah is the first of the weekly Torah portions with a narrative that fails to excite. We have been reading about the world’s creation, the Flood and its diluvial ramifications, the stories of our matriarchs and their husbands, the Great Exodus from Egypt that brought us — with no apparent exit strategy — to the Sea of Reeds, and then Mount Sinai, where God Almighty, amid thunder and lightning, revealed Himself to our nation of millions by declaring the Ten Pronouncements, which later would be engraved in stone as a memorial. One exciting event after another.
The Weisman Museum’s new exhibition features 60 works by the pop art innovator, famous for adopting the look of comic books and cartoons in his paintings. Get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how Lichtenstein developed his ideas — from sketches and drawings to collages and the finished product. Sat. Through April 3. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Free. Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. (310) 506-4851. arts.pepperdine.edu.
Several Irish politicians and adventure travel writer Dervla Murphy will join a group of Irish anti-Israel activists on a boat bound for Gaza next month. The group, which is expected to sail for the Palestinian territory from an undisclosed Mediterranean port on March 30, will be led by two protesters who took part in the Gaza-bound flotilla that was intercepted by Israeli commandos last May, leading to the death of nine Turkish activists aboard the Mavi Marmara.
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