Category
March 29, 2011
U.S. condemns Syria’s ‘brutal repression’ of protesters
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the Syrian government on Tuesday for the harsh way it had responded to pro-democracy protests, while the State Department spokesman said Syria must make more progress on reforms.
Unrest in Syria presents Israel with potential dangers and opportunities
With the turmoil rocking the Middle East now threatening the regime in Syria, Israel faces potentially grave dangers and huge opportunities. The dangers are clear: The emergence of a more radical regime in Syria could mean a stronger Iran-Syria-Hezbollah axis. Iran could get direct access to its allies in Lebanon through a Syrian regime that’s even friendlier toward Tehran. Syria\’s huge stockpiles of missiles and chemical weapons could fall into the wrong hands. The unrest on Israel\’s doorstep could spread to the West Bank and to Jordan. Syrian President Bashar Assad\’s more radical successors could use a conflict with Israel to build domestic legitimacy.
N.Y. rabbi pleads guilty to money laundering
A leader of New York\’s Syrian Jewish community pleaded guilty to laundering money through a religious charity. Rabbi Saul Kassin, 79, pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain Monday in federal court. He faces up to $250,000 in fines and could face up to five years in prison, though prosecutors reportedly will not seek a prison sentence as part of the plea deal.
Report of Argentina-Iran deal to quash AMIA investigation roils community
Consternation is mounting in Argentina and Israel after the leaking of a document purportedly showing that Argentina’s foreign minister secretly offered Iran a deal to quash the investigation into the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in exchange for better trade relations. The Argentinean newspaper Perfil broke the story with a report based on what it said was an Iranian document showing that the foreign minister, Hector Timerman, made the offer to Iran via Syrian intermediaries. According to the paper, opponents of the regime in Tehran leaked the documents.\n
Hadassah awards grants to help women
The Hadassah Foundation has awarded $182,000 in grants for 2011 to help women from diverse cultural groups in Israel and the American Jewish community. This year, due to the global economic downturn, in addition to funding programs in the fields of economic security for low-income Israeli women and leadership and self-esteem programs for adolescent Jewish girls and young women in the United States, the foundation also funded economic empowerment and financial training programs in the United States.
Getty Museum to return Nazi-looted painting
The Getty Museum in Los Angeles will return a 17th-century Dutch painting looted by the Nazis to the heir of the Jewish art dealer. Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker left 1,400 works of art in his Amsterdam gallery when he fled the Nazis in 1940. He died during the escape. His gallery was looted by Hermann Goering shortly afterward. In 2006, the Dutch government returned 202 paintings from its national collection to Goudstikker’s sole heir, Marei von Saher.
ADL: Anti-Muslim sentiment ‘significant’
Anti-Muslim bigotry in the United States is \”significant,\” according to the Anti-Defamation League. \”A significant level of anti-Muslim bigotry has surfaced in a variety of public forums over the past year,\” said an ADL statement accompanying a letter and background information the ADL submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose civil rights committee was considering anti-Muslim activity on Tuesday.
Some 1,500 Israeli Arabs take part in Land Day protest in Lod
Some 1,500 Israeli Arabs protested in Lod on Tuesday against government policies which affect Israel\’s Arab sector, launching the events of Land Day, to be marked on Wednesday. The protesters were demonstrating against the government demolition of the houses of the Abu Eid family, which left some 50 family members, 30 of them children, without a home.
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