Sony Music apologized after the popular Japanese rock group Kishidan appeared on MTV Japan wearing SS-like uniforms. The apology Wednesday came after The Simon Wiesenthal Center called on the band, Sony and MTV to apologize. In a message posted on the band\’s website, Sony said it was sorry for the costume worn by the band during the MTV interview.
America opposes efforts to de-legitimize Israel, President Obama told a 50-member delegation of Jewish leaders during a White House meeting.
Minister Louis Farrakhan at the Nation of Islam\’s annual meeting accused the Jewish community of pushing the United States into war with Libya and Iran. “President Obama, if you allow the Zionists to push you, to mount a military offensive against Gadhafi, and you go in and kill him and his sons as you did with Saddam Hussein and his sons, I’m warning you this is a Libyan problem, let the Libyans solve their problem among themselves,” Farrakhan said Feb. 27 during an address to the Nation of Islam’s 2011 Saviours’ Day convention in Rosemont, Ill., near Chicago.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly is considering seeking a long-term interim peace deal with the Palestinians that would include the establishment of a Palestinian state with temporary borders. The impetus for an interim deal comes as peace talks between the two sides have broken down. The possibility of working out an interim deal was published Wednesday in several Israeli newspapers citing unnamed sources in the Prime Minister\’s Office.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson has called on Cuba to release Jewish U.S. citizen Alan Gross from prison and reunite him with his family. Jackson, who has been to Cuba several times and met with former President Fidel Castro and current President Raul Castro, offered to go to Cuba to negotiate the release of American contractor Alan Gross, according to a statement issued Tuesday from his Rainbow PUSH coalition.
An armor defense system for Israeli tanks successfully thwarted a missile attack on Israel\’s border with Gaza, Israel\’s military said. The Windbreaker system on Tuesday identified, alerted and intercepted an anti-tank missile fired from southern Gaza on an Israeli army patrol in the western Negev near the Gaza border, the Israel Defense Forces said. The soldiers returned fire shortly after the attack, according to the IDF.
Former Indiana congressman Lee Hamilton appealed to President Obama to release Jonathan Pollard, calling it \”a matter of basic compassion and justice.\” Hamilton, a Democrat who was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee when Pollard was sentenced, has intervened in the case before, looking into inhumane treatment against Pollard when he first entered prison.
President Obama reportedly urged Jewish communal leaders to speak to their friends and colleagues in Israel and to “search your souls” over Israel\’s seriousness about making peace. In an hourlong meeting Tuesday with about 50 representatives from the Jewish community’s chief foreign policy umbrella group, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Obama reiterated the U.S. commitment to Israel, according to statements from both the White House and Conference of Presidents.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.