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Jewish Journal

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August 29, 2012

Kipah-wearing teen wows ‘America’s Got Talent’ semis [VIDEO]

Leave a Comment / Culture, Mobile, Mobile Sections, News /

Edon Pinchot, a kipah-wearing Jewish day school student, won cheers from the live audience and the judges in the semifinals of “America’s Got Talent.”

Pinchot, 14, of Skokie, Ill., performed One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” on the popular NBC reality show and received a standing ovation from the live audience. Judge Howie Mandel told Pinchot that he is “the best singer of the competition.”

The teen was among 12 acts performing live Tuesday night. Other semifinalists joining Pinchot, a singer and pianist, included singers, a dancer, a dog ventriloquist, an acrobat, a mind reader and a comedian.

The second set of 12 semifinalists will perform Sept. 4.

[Related: The Jewish Channel interviews Edon Pinchot]

Should enough TV viewers cast their votes for Pinchot, he will advance to the finals and a chance to take home the $1 million prize. He has performed an audition, in the Vegas round and in the quarterfinals to reach the semis. His kipah has made him a focal point for viewers.

Pinchot,  who is Sabbath observant and keeps kosher, is the fourth of five children and has been playing piano since he was 9. His grandmother, Ginger Pinchot of Silver Spring, Md., says Edon is “very athletic. He’s one of the stars of his soccer team, and he’s also a straight A student. He’s just kind of an all-around guy.”

The show’s three judges—Mandel, Sharon Osbourne and Howard Stern—are Jewish.

Pinchot will be starting high school soon at the Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Chicago.

 

Kipah-wearing teen wows ‘America’s Got Talent’ semis [VIDEO] Read More »

Palestinian cars torched in price tag attack

Leave a Comment / Israel, Mobile, News /

Palestinian cars were torched and vandalized in a price tag attack near Ramallah in the West Bank.

Israeli troops reportedly discovered one car burnt and two others spray-painted with slogans that read “Price Tag,” “Migron” and “Revenge to Arabs” in the early Wednesday morning attack.

The troops entered the Palestinian village after reports of Israeli civilians in the area.

Price tag refers to the strategy that extremists have adopted to exact a price in attacks on Palestinians and Arabs in retribution for settlement freezes and demolitions, or for Palestinian attacks on Jews. The Migron outpost had been scheduled to be evacuated on Tuesday but was not.

On Tuesday, two torched cars were discovered in a Palestinian village near Hebron.

Meanwhile, Palestinians threw six firebombs at Israeli army patrols in eastern Jerusalem early Wednesday morning. One man was arrested in connection with the attack.

Palestinian cars torched in price tag attack Read More »

Calif. Assembly approves anti-Semitism resolution for colleges

Leave a Comment / Judaism, Mobile, News /

The California State Assembly approved a resolution calling on colleges and universities in the state to combat anti-Semitism.

The symbolic resolution was approved Tuesday with no debate, according to The Associated Press. It also calls on the schools to quash campus demonstrations against Israel.

Pro-Palestinian and free speech activists were angered by the resolution, saying it characterizes pro-Palestinian speech as anti-Jewish.

A University of California spokesman told the San Francisco Chronicle on Wednesday that it would not support the resolution, saying that it violates the First Amendment.

The resolution was authored by state Assemblywoman Linda Halderman, a Republican from Fresno. Some 66 of the Assembly’s 80 members signed the resolution as co-authors.

Jewish students reportedly have felt under siege at several University of California campuses, where pro-Palestinian demonstrations are a regular occurrence.

In one incident, in February 2010, 11 Muslim students stood one by one and interrupted a speech by Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, at the University of California, Irvine. They also shouted “Mass murderer!” and “War criminal!” before being removed from the room by campus police.

An Orange County jury last September found 10 of the students guilty of two misdemeanor charges for conspiring to disrupt a meeting and then disrupting the speech. They were sentenced to community service and probation. Charges against the 11th student were dropped.

The resolution also noted the annual Apartheid Week events held on UC campuses.

Calif. Assembly approves anti-Semitism resolution for colleges Read More »

Australian Jews balk at ‘Breaking the Silence’ abuse reports

Leave a Comment / Mobile, News, Worldwide /

Australian Jewish officials lashed out at a group of former Israeli soldiers who reported abuses they witnessed while serving in the Palestinian territories.

The front pages of the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne’s The Age newspapers on Monday carried a report on the Aug. 24 release of testimonies by 30 former Israeli soldiers who belong to Breaking the Silence, an Israeli nongovernmental organization that has amassed more than 850 testimonies from soldiers about military abuses in the Palestinian territories over the last decade.

It cited allegations of maltreatment of Palestinian children by the soldiers, including “forcing them to act as human shields in military operations.”

The newspaper reports triggered a scathing response Tuesday from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s president, Dr. Danny Lamm, who described it as “crude propaganda” and challenged the testimonies, which he said were “anonymous, non-specific as to times and places, devoid of critical detail and untested by any kind of cross-questioning.”

“Sadly, many Australians … are being left with the false, indeed ridiculous, impression that the IDF is a serious abuser of children’s rights,” Lamm said.

But Dana Golan, the executive director of Breaking the Silence, fired back Wednesday, accusing Lamm of “insidious allegations against us” and scolding his “armchair Zionism” for “questioning our loyalty and integrity.”

“It is precisely because we have been on the front lines that we understand that the future of our country depends on its moral fortitude no less than on its military might,” she said in a statement co-signed by 15 ex-soldiers.

Lamm was backed by Zionist Federation of Australia President Philip Chester; Labor lawmaker Michael Danby and Dr. Colin Rubenstein, executive director of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, who said it was “profoundly disappointing” to see Australia’s leading broadsheets “so uncritically repeating the latest rehashed propaganda.”

“Even in the unlikely event that the 15 or so incidents of alleged wrong-doing … in this report were fully confirmed, this would not alter the fact the IDF remains probably the most moral army in the world,” Rubenstein said.

Australian Jews balk at ‘Breaking the Silence’ abuse reports Read More »

Hungary, Claims Conference exchange harsh words over Holocaust money

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The Claims Conference accused Hungary’s government of “depriving” Holocaust survivors through “disgraceful” and “deceitful tactics.”

The allegations came after Budapest demanded on Monday that the Claims Conference, an organization representing world Jewry in compensation talks on Holocaust-era crimes,” return” $12.6 million to Hungary’s treasury.

An announcement published on the website of the Hungarian Ministry of Public Administration and Justice cited “discriminatory” methods by the Claims Conference that had “failed to properly report” on expenditure. Hungary would give the Claims Conference no more funds until the issue is solved, the announcement said.

Claims Conference Executive Vice President Greg Schneider told JTA that this was the first time in the organization’s 62 years of operation “that a country has reneged when it came time to pay. We hope that intervention at the highest level in Hungary will resolve this issue for Hungarian survivors who need help.”

According to the Hungarian ministry, the money Hungary is demanding is part of $21 million pledged by the government in 2007 for the following five years for Holocaust survivors in Hungary and abroad. A new settlement was to be signed this year.

The money was transferred initially from the treasury to the Jewish Heritage of Hungary Public Endowment, or Mazsok—a committee of government officials and Jewish representatives. Mazsok transferred $12.6 million to the Claims Conference for distribution outside Hungary, the ministry said.

But the Claims Conference told JTA that the Hungarian government had failed to transfer $5.6 million of the $21 million pledged. In an email to JTA, the Claims Conference said it only spent approximately $8 million received from Hungary.

“As a result of such conduct, thousands of Holocaust survivors will, unfortunately, be deprived of the assistance they so desperately need and had reason to expect,” the Claims Conference added. It called Hungary’s allegations “disgraceful” and “deceitful tactics.”

In its statement, the Hungarian ministry said distribution of funds by the Claims Conference “was made on a far-from-equal footing, which represents discrimination to the detriment of Holocaust survivors living in Hungary.” Based on the report submitted by the Claims Conference to date, “it is impossible to identify the individuals eligible for compensation,” the ministry wrote on its website.

The Claims Conference, according to the email it sent JTA, gave Budapest a 400-page report containing the names of all recipients and how much they received.

“Every penny was transferred to a Hungarian survivor, not even one cent was spent on administration or any other expense,” the Claims Conference said.

The email also said that funding for Holocaust survivors stopped after 2010, when the Fidesz party came to power.

“We call upon Prime Minister Orban to intercede in order to help needy Hungarian survivors who happen to live outside of Hungary today and comply with international agreements,” it said.

Hungary, Claims Conference exchange harsh words over Holocaust money Read More »

Art Shamsky to represent Israel baseball at Classic

Leave a Comment / Israel, Mobile, News /

Former Major Leaguer Art Shamsky will serve as Israel’s ambassador to the World Baseball Classic Qualifier in Jupiter, Fla.

The Israel Association of Baseball appointed Shamsky to encourage support for baseball in Israel. Team Israel will play its first game in the WBC Qualifier in Jupiter, Fla., on Sept. 19.

“Art Shamsky has been a terrific advocate for the growth of baseball in Israel and a wonderful friend to us all,” Haim Katz, president of the Israel Association of Baseball, said in a statement. “His presence is a reminder of the Jewish impact on baseball in America, and the role the U.S. can play in helping us grow the sport here.”

Brad Ausmus, also a former Major League player, will manage the Israeli team, which is composed largely of American minor leaguers and independent league players. It also will feature ex-Major Leaguers Shawn Green and Gabe Kapler, who also will serve as coaches, and members of the Israel National Team.

Shamsky played for “the Miracle Mets,” as the New York club was dubbed in winning the 1969 World Series. As a manager, he guided the Modi’in Miracle to the 2007 Israel Baseball League championship.

Art Shamsky to represent Israel baseball at Classic Read More »

Israel in HD

Leave a Comment / Blogs /

Stand With Us is an international, non- profit organization, founded in 2001. The organization is dedicated to informing the population of the world about Israel, and to help fight the hate and anti-Semitism by simply acknowledging. By creating various projects and helping those who wish to stand for Israel, the organization manages to also correct common prejudices about the Arab-Israeli conflict. The members of Stand With Us, coming from the U.S, Israel, UK and France, use print materials, speakers, conferences, missions to Israel, and campaigns, both face to face and online, to follow their mission.

The Stand With Us Fellowship is a program of the Israeli branch of the movement. The fellowship trains students from all universities to become young diplomats and become spokespersons of Israel worldwide. Nowadays, the Fellowship completes their final preparations for the 2012 year-end projects, ranging from conferences on start-ups, social entrepreneurship, and women’s changing roles to explorations of Israel’s myriad cuisines and archeology. All of those projects will being students specializing in those various areas to explore more of their specialties here in Israel. The most attractive project of the Fellowship for the summer, is “Once in a Lifetime”, which continues to run for the third summer. This project brings influential bloggers worldwide to tour and to write about Israel. This year, however, the project got a twist, and instead of bloggers, ten influential Instagram users will land here on September 2dn for eight whole days of Israel.

Ten influential Instagram users will land here in just a couple of days: Carli Kiene (” target=”_blank”>@nerdx), Sam Horine (” target=”_blank”>@bexfinch), Eelco Roos (” target=”_blank”>@vutheara), Angeliki Jackson (” target=”_blank”>@sgoralnick), Dave Temple (” target=”_blank”>@JN). They all have a total number of over 3 million followers put together, and they were picked after a long process of online researches made by the Fellowship members. Only two of them are Jewish, and most of them have never been to Israel before. During the eight days of stay, they will see every bit of Israel, from north to south, and take Instagram pictures for you to see.

Stand With Us Fellowship