Be fruitful and multiply.
That’s the gist of Glenn Beck’s new creative venture.
According to a ” title=”mini-Becks” target=”_blank”>mini-Becks spouting up in our channel listing? Or is Beck making a play to rival ” title=”reform Judaism to radical Islam” target=”_blank”>reform Judaism to radical Islam (He later Glenn Beck leaving his show to produce additional programming with Fox News…great Read More »
The remains of dozens of Jews killed by Romanian troops during the Holocaust and found in a mass grave were reburied in a Jewish cemetery.
The unidentified remains of at least 40 Jewish victims were reburied on Monday in the Jewish cemetery of Iasi in northeastern Romania.
The bodies were discovered by archeologists near the village of Popricani last November, according to reports. The victims were killed there in the summer of 1941. More than 15,000 Jews were killed in Iasi during pogroms in 1941.
Five American and British rabbis officiated Monday at a memorial service for the unidentified victims.
Holocaust victims reburied in Romanian Jewish cemetery Read More »
The severe harassment of Palestinian journalists by Palestinian Authority and Hamas forces in the West Bank and Gaza has had a chilling effect on freedom of expression, a new report by Human Rights Watch found.
The 35-page report issued Wednesday documents cases in which Palestinian security forces tortured, beat and arbitrarily detained journalists in the West Bank and Gaza, in addition to confiscating their equipment and preventing them from leaving the Palestinian enclaves.
“Palestinian security forces are becoming notorious for assaulting and intimidating journalists who are just trying to do their jobs,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director of Human Rights Watch. “Both the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza need to end these blatant attacks on free expression.”
Since Hamas’s takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, the majority of abuses against journalists in the West Bank and Gaza have been related to tensions between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, the report found. In the West Bank, the primary targets are journalists whom PA security services suspected of working for television, radio, websites and newspapers seen as favoring Hamas or other Islamist groups such as Islamic Jihad, or are otherwise critical of the PA.
PA security services also have targeted independent journalists suspected of working on reports that might be critical of the PA, according to Human RIghts Watch.
In Gaza, Hamas internal security agents have summoned journalists for questioning, which the journalists interpreted as a form of intimidation, and government officials called some journalists to warn them that their coverage was “slanted” or “biased,” the report found.
The majority of abuses documented by Human Rights Watch and reported by local rights groups involved the PA’s Preventive Security agency and General Intelligence Services, and the detention of civilian journalists by the PA’s military judiciary. The military judiciary recently said it would stop exercising jurisdiction over civilians, although many civilians are still detained by the military.
The report, based on interviews with Palestinian journalists, journalist syndicate representatives and PA officials, focuses on seven cases of journalists who were abused by PA security forces and documents two cases of abuse by Hamas internal security forces in Gaza. Alleged abuses by Hamas in Gaza as well as by Israeli military forces throughout the occupied Palestinian territories will be the focus of future reporting, Human Rights Watch said.
Report: Palestinian forces harassing journalists in West Bank, Gaza Read More »
European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton joined the United States and the United Nations in condemning a Jerusalem committee’s approval of new housing in Gilo.
Ashton said Wednesday that she was “deeply disappointed” in the initial approval Monday by the Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee of the construction of 942 housing units in Gilo, a residential district in mostly Arab eastern Jerusalem. Other committees already had approved the plan. The units would be built on privately owned land as well as land owned by the Jewish National Fund, Haaretz reported.
“These plans may further damage an already fragile political environment,” Ashton said. “I reiterate that the EU considers that settlement activities in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, are illegal under international law, undermine trust between the parties and constitute an obstacle to peace.”
The planning and building committee’s backing came the day before Israeli President Shimon Peres met with President Obama in Washington to discuss, among other issues, ways to restart stalled peace talks. The Obama administration has objected to Israeli settlement building in the West Bank.
The White House on Tuesday also criticized the construction approval.
“The United States is deeply concerned by continuing Israeli actions with respect to settlement construction,” White House National Security Staff spokesman Tommy Vietor said.
“Not only are continued Israeli settlements illegitimate, Israel’s actions run counter to efforts to resume direct negotiations,” he said. “As we have said, we believe that through good-faith negotiations, the parties should mutually agree on an outcome that realizes the aspirations of both sides for Jerusalem and safeguards its status for people around the world.
The United Nations also condemned the approval.
“We reiterate that Israeli settlement activity anywhere in occupied territory, including in east Jerusalem, is illegal and contrary to the road map,” Richard Miron, spokesman for the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Robert Serry, said in a statement Tuesday. “We call on the Israeli government to halt further planning for new settlement units, which undermines efforts to bring about resumed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and prejudices final status discussions.”
EU policy chief joins U.S., U.N. in rapping Gilo housing approval Read More »
The start time of the Euroleague championship basketball game has been moved up by several hours to accommodate an Israeli team that does not want to play on its Memorial Day.
On Wednesday, the Euroleague said the May 8 final of its Final Four tournament in Barcelona, Spain, would be played at 5:30 p.m. Israel time, so as not to interfere with Yom Hazikaron, the memorial day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror.
Maccabi Tel Aviv, the most awarded sports team in Israeli history, qualified for the Final Four after beating the Spanish team Caja Laboral Vitoria in four games last week to capture their best-of-5-series.
Maccabi’s general manager, Shimon Mizrachi, the winner of this year’s prestigious Israel Prize, negotiated with the CEO of the Euroleague about changing the tipoff to an earlier hour.
Maccabi, which has won the Euroleague title four times since 1977, must win its semifinal game on May 6 to qualify for the finals.
The idea of an Israeli team playing on one of the most somber days on the Israeli calendar sparked controversy on the Israeli street.
In Maccabi’s case, it wasn’t the first time. Twenty years ago, the club was heavily criticized for playing in the semifinals of the European Final Four in a game that ended after the start of Memorial Day in Israel.
Euroleague basketball finals changed to accommodate Israeli team Read More »
Phil Donney, who graduated in 2006 from Hamilton High School’s Music Academy, home to many Jewish students as well as talented students throughout the city, has created this video in the face of huge looming cuts that threaten the very existence of the LAUSD public school Magnet programs, particularly the music programs like Hamilton’s.
Donney’s music video shows students protesting the cuts and is a very moving song and repsentation of why all students need to be encouraged in their creativity. Donney went on to graduate from UC Santa Barbara and will be entering Cal State Northridge’s school of social work in the fall.