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Jewish Journal

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October 19, 2015

Poll: Clinton’s support jumps 10 points post-debate

Leave a Comment / United States /

Support for former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton among Democrats has jumped since earlier this month, helped by a strong performance in last week's first Democratic presidential candidates debate, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll on Monday.

Fifty-one percent of 1,003 Democrats polled in the online survey said they would vote for Clinton in the 2016 presidential primaries, compared with 27 percent who said they would back her main rival, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Forty-one percent backed Clinton and 27 percent favored Sanders in the Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted on Oct. 9. Support for Vice President Joe Biden among Democrats dropped 6 percentage points to 13 percent from 10 days ago.

Analysts widely hailed Clinton, 67, as turning in a nimble performance at the debate last Tuesday, easing fears among some Democrats that the controversy over her use of a private email server while secretary of state was torpedoing her bid to represent the party in the November 2016 election.

Clinton's showing in the Oct. 13 debate in Las Vegas that brought together five declared Democratic candidates also fired a warning shot at Biden, 72, who is considering a late presidential run.

Thirty-six percent of voters said Clinton did the best job in the debate aired on CNN, regardless of which candidate they support, while 26 percent named Sanders as the winner.

Among Democrats, Clinton's debate win was more pronounced. Fifty-two percent of 865 Democrats who watched the event believed she did the best job, compared with 29 percent who thought Sanders was the top performer.

The precision of Reuters/Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points for all respondents and plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for all Democrats.

It also has a credibility interval of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points for all respondents who watched the debate, and plus or minus 3.8 percentage points for Democrats who watched the debate.

Poll: Clinton’s support jumps 10 points post-debate Read More »

Terror in Jerusalem: The merry-go-round

Leave a Comment / Is Featured?, Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News, Opinion /

It was in the middle of Sukkot, that loveliest of holidays in Israel, set aside for family time, when even the most devout and serious yeshiva men can be seen with their entire families visiting the zoo or traipsing through nature trails in Galilee. We had woken up that Friday morning to the shocking news that, the night before, young parents had been slain in their car on their way home from a festive reunion, shot in cold blood by Palestinian terrorists as their four terrified little boys sat watching from the back seat. 

It is hard to explain to anyone who doesn’t live in Israel and travel these roads every day what such news brings: grief, fury, fear and a fierce desire for a response that will deter the next such heinous and inhuman act.

Along with everyone else in Israel, I grieved. But then I heard their names: Eitam and Naama Henkin.

Henkin, I thought, flooded by a sudden, terrible shock that was like a blow to my stomach.

Oh, no!

I remembered that lunch not so long ago with Rabbanit Chana Henkin, founder and dean of Nishmat, a revolutionary advanced Torah study program. We sat in one of those comfortable little coffee houses that line German Colony, two Orthodox women who had come to Israel from America, discussing how Nishmat was changing the face of Orthodoxy by offering the first study program approved by the Orthodox rabbinical establishment to qualify women to become halachic advisers in the area of intimate women’s issues — issues that many religious women would be embarrassed to discuss with a male rabbi.

I remember leaving that meeting feeling I had been granted a rare privilege. This petite, passionate woman in her head-covering and modest clothes was, in her own quiet, courageous way, making history improving the lives of countless Jewish women. 

Eitam and Naama were Chana Henkin’s son and daughter-in-law.

That her grandchildren had been spared was nothing less than a miracle. For a moment, my heart wanted to believe that even Palestinian killers and terrorists had some shred of decency and compassion. That they were, after all, descendants Abraham. 

A few days later, when the suspects were caught in a spectacular demonstration of amazing skill by the Israel Defense Forces, the truth was brutal. The suspects had been on their way to kill the children when one of them accidentally shot the other, forcing them to abandon their plans and rush to a hospital, where the injured suspect was picked up days later by an elite Israeli unit.

It made me feel much better that they had been so quickly apprehended. But before I could feel any real relief, terrorist attacks in Jerusalem, Raanana and elsewhere followed at a rapid clip, thrusting me back into the terrible memories of an earlier homicidal rampage to strike Israel, when I experienced terrorism firsthand as I sat with my family on seder night in the Park Hotel in Netanya. 

Oddly, when I remembered those days of suicide bombers blowing up hotels, bar mitzvah ceremonies and buses, the current spate of stabbings and savage hit-and-runs seemed less threatening. After all, a bomb you couldn’t see coming, and you couldn’t defend yourself. With a knife attack, you had a chance to run, or, if you had a gun, to shoot. As devastating as these attacks were, they were small potatoes compared to the bad old days of Oslo, where there was no security fence to keep killers and their bombs out of the country. 

The bus attack in Armon Hanatziv was another matter altogether. Two passengers stood and started stabbing and shooting. It wasn’t a bomb, but it was close. But worst of all was the news that the suspects were Israeli Arabs, residents of East Jerusalem, citizens of Israel.

I have lived in Jerusalem for 45 years. This is something new. There is a delicate fabric of life in our city, interwoven threads of Arab and Jew that exist side by side. We shop in the same malls and supermarkets, sit together on the grass in our parks, watch our children playing in the same playgrounds. Palestinian Arabs have delivered my groceries, built and renovated my homes, and been my doctors and nurses in Hadassah Hospital.

One terrorist, who plowed his car into a crowd in the center of ultra-Orthodox Malchei Israel Street in Geula, then got out of the vehicle holding a meat cleaver and started cutting the injured, had worked for the Israeli phone company Bezeq for 20 years.

I wondered if our building cleaner, an Israeli Arab, would show up for work, and if the workers putting the finishing touches on my neighbor’s apartment would show up. And I wondered how I would feel about it.

When I encountered them in the following days, the answer became clear: Stronger than any propaganda, any isolated terror attack was the routine flow of normal life. I was not really surprised that I nodded hello to our maintenance man as he mopped the lobby floor, and that he nodded and smiled. Nor was I really surprised that the noises from the sixth-floor renovation were going on as usual, the Arabs congregating in front of the building. But what had changed was how we looked at each other, warily, searching each other’s faces for confirmation that all was well, and we would be exempt from the madness. Or not.

What did surprise me was my own reaction. With little or no fear, I took a public bus into the center of Jerusalem, walked calmly down Ben Yehuda Street and turned into the nearest army surplus store.

“We are all out of tear gas,” the owner said before I opened my mouth.

“That’s OK,” I answered. “I want a knife.”

He showed me a few. I tested the blade gingerly against my palm. “Something bigger,” I told him. “Something sharper.”

I walked out with it in my purse, feeling better. As ready as I was to smile at innocent workmen, I was also ready to defend myself and my loved ones from those whose religious fervor sent them out to kill people like me and my family. I thought of every thrust: One for the Jews killed in the Holocaust. One for the Jews killed in every terror attack. And one very personal one for me and the Park Hotel.

That Shabbat, sans knife, we took our usual walk along the path built over the old Turkish railroad. Ordinarily crowded with kids on bikes and skateboards, and with families pushing baby strollers, it was practically deserted, except for a group of French tourists. One of them wore a black T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Proud of Israel.”

I was disappointed. Surely, Jerusalemites were not that easily spooked? We felt better when we reached the First Station, a lively collection of stores, cafes and play areas for children. It was slightly less crowded than usual, but still bustling with young families. Would the same be true of Liberty Bell Park, which every Saturday throbbed with Arab families and their laughing children from East Jerusalem, whose picnics of barbecuing lamb scented the air for blocks?

Unlike the First Station, it was absolutely deserted, as was the Lion’s Fountain across the street, which normally on such a warm day, would be packed with Arab families watching their kids jump in and out of the water.

We walked back to the First Station and took a bench across from the newly imported merry-go-round. Its painted horses and lively music filled the air, mingling with the laughter of children. When we got up to go, a young woman pushing a double baby carriage approached us. 

“Did you see how empty Liberty Bell Park is? Good! Why should they take over the park every Saturday? Let them be afraid to come here. This is our country. Let them stay home. They teach their children to be murderers and then they cry when they get shot trying to murder our children! They have no business here!”

An old Arab walking nearby carrying a large bundle turned around, staring daggers at her.

“Let him stare!” she said loudly. “This is my country. Mine. I’m not going anywhere!”

As I walked away, I looked over my shoulder. The merry-go-round was still turning. It went around and around and around.

Naomi Ragen is the author of nine international best-sellers. Her latest book, “The Devil in Jerusalem” (St. Martin’s Press, 2015), is based on the true story of a kabbalah cult in Jerusalem that took over the lives of innocent American olim with horrific consequences. She has lived in Jerusalem since 1971.

Terror in Jerusalem: The merry-go-round Read More »

Kerry rejects calls for international presence on Temple Mount

Leave a Comment / United States /

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry rejected calls to have an international presence on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and called for agreed-upon steps to calm the current wave of violence.

“We don’t contemplate any change, but nor does Israel,” Kerry said Monday in Madrid, Spain. “Israel understands the importance of that status quo. What is important is to make sure everybody understands what that means. We are not seeking some new change. We are not seeking outsiders or others to come in.”

France has introduced a proposal to the United Nations Security Council that would station international observers on the site, which is holy to Jews and Muslims. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan over the weekend called the French initiative a “prize” for Palestinian violence.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting that Israel cannot accept the resolution.

“It doesn’t mention Palestinian incitement; it doesn’t mention Palestinian terrorism; and it calls for the internationalization of the Temple Mount,” he said. “Israel will protect the holy sites, will guard the status quo. Israel is not the problem on the Temple Mount. Israel is the solution.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned the French ambassador to Israel, Patrick Maisonnave, for what the Israel media called a “harsh” conversation about the proposal.

Jordan, whose Muslim Waqf is responsible for oversight of the holy site, also rejects the call for international observers, Kerry said Monday.

Kerry said on Sunday that he will meet this week with Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Kerry reportedly also will meet this week with Jordan’s King Abdullah.

Much of the violence is believed to stem from calls by Palestinian and Arab leaders to protect the Temple Mount from Jewish visitors. Under the status quo, Jews may visit but not pray at the Temple Mount.

Kerry also called for new peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

“Security and diplomacy go hand in hand,” Kerry said. “There is not a time for one and then the other. There is an importance to both.”

Kerry rejects calls for international presence on Temple Mount Read More »

Most children of intermarriage aren’t told they are exclusively Jewish

Leave a Comment / Worldwide /

Another day, another report on Jews and interfaith marriages. A comprehensive report: Millennial Children of Intermarriage: Touch points and Trajectories of Jewish Engagement. 58 pages of data and analysis from the inexhaustible team at Brandeis University’s Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies.

So what have we learned?

About half of America’s new generation of Jewish young adults are the product of intermarriage; more offspring of intermarriage identify as Jews than in the past; they are less likely than children of inmarriage to identify as Jewish by religion, observe Jewish practices, and feel connected to Israel. Nothing shocking. But the authors (Theodore Sasson, Leonard Saxe, Fern Chertok, Michelle Shain, Shahar Hecht, Graham Wright) back it all up with numbers. And along the way they discovered some small yet surprising Jewish connections such as: “Children of intermarriage were less likely to have close ties to Jewish grandparents than their counterparts who had two sets. They were, however, more likely to have ties to their Jewish than non-Jewish grandparents, and such ties predict a whole variety of attitudes and behaviors in young adulthood, including identifying as Jewish by religion, celebrating Jewish holidays, feeling a connection to Israel and the Jewish people, and wanting to marry someone Jewish.”

When there are new numbers – when good people think seriously about worthy topics – it is always interesting. So here are four takes on the report and the data (not necessarily on the numbers that will make the headlines).

A.

The headline of this post is an intentional provocation. Here is why:

When it comes to intermarriage, numbers are rarely neutral. For example: we learn from the study that most intermarried parents do not tell their children that they are “Jewish.” 41% do – and the authors call it a “plurality.” One might assume that a “plurality” is a description of a reasonably positive outcome (“positive” only as it relates to Jewish continuity – I do not intend to be the judge of other parents’ decisions, or the judge of other people’s religious\cultural\personal choices). But of course, it is not the only available description of the numbers presented in the survey. The 41% is a “plurality” only because the other group of offspring – that of children not being told that they are “exclusively Jewish” – is divided into sub groups: a group of 18% with no religion, a group of 18% of children told it is “their choice”, a group of 17% defined “Jewish and other religion”, a group of 5% of “other religion”, a group of 2% of children of couples who “disagreed.”

So you have a “plurality” of “exclusively Jewish” – but also a clear majority (of 60%) of children of intermarriage that were not told they were “Jewish.”

B.

It is not easy for the observer – nor is it easier for the researcher – to measure the findings’ significance. That is, because many of the conclusions one could draw from the numbers are value based.

Again – one example:

The study found that “celebrating Hanukkah was almost universal among both children of intermarriage and children of inmarriage. Attending a Passover seder was very common in both groups as well.” So that is positive. Of course, the picture is not as rosy when other Jewish practices are measured. Children of intermarriage don’t attend religious services like children of inmarriage, they don’t light shabbat candles, they don’t have shabbat dinner.

But there is one thing that they do a lot more than children of inmmariage. Naturally, “A substantial proportion of the children of intermarriage participated in Christian religious rituals and celebrations while growing up.” 86% of them celebrated Christmas “with a special meal or by decorating their home,” compared to just 18% of children of inmarriage.

There are really two things here that need to be dissected. The first one concerns the value of each of these items: Is it important to light shabbat candles? Is it significant that a Christmas tree is erected at home? Are these still valid measures of Jewishness and of the prospects of Jewish identity and Jewish continuity? The second one concerns the value of each item as we compare it to other items. We can put it somewhat bluntly by asking this: do we prefer a Jew who lights Hanukkah candles and participates in Christian religious rituals – or maybe it’s better if a Jew skips both Hanukkah and Christmas.

I know, the question sounds a little dumb, but thinking about it in such a way clarifies some issues in need of clarification. Are we more worried about the assimilation of the children of intermarriage (we want them, first of all, not to do Christian things) or about the indifference of the children of intermarriage (we want them, first of all, to do Jewish things)? Also, going back to my previous point: to what extent do we value exclusivity as a non-negotiable feature of Judaism? If that is our chief concern, our main goal would not be to increase the number of intermarried couples who light shabbat candles (18%), but rather to decrease the number of intermarried couples who have an Easter meal (47%). Of course, one could argue that the way to decrease the number of Easter meals is to increase the number of shabbat candle lightings.

C.

The report is about the children of intermarriage, but since the authors learn about them by comparing them to the children of inmarriage, we also get a glimpse of the product of inmarriage.

This study could have a misleading impact on our view of the children of inmarriage. Why? You can see why by thinking about what Prof. Daniel Kahneman called “anchoring” – our tendency to rely on the first piece of information offered as we asses a situation.

Thus, when we are told that there is a significant gap between children of intermarrige and children of inmarriage in “thinking it is important to marry someone Jewish” – we see the gap first. And the gap is favorable to children of inmarried (again – “favorable” is offered here as a description of the practical viewpoint of those who want to increase the likelihood of Jewish continuity – not as a value judgment). So the observer instinctively thinks about the state of the inmarried as good compared to that of the intermarried, which is bad.

But look at the actual numbers, not at the gap. Just 29% of the children of inmarried couples with no Jewish experience during college (no trips, membership in a Jewish group, taking Jewish courses, etc.) think it is “important to marry someone Jewish.” Yes, that is much more than the 6% of children of intermarriage with similar (no) experience. But it is really quite a small percentage.

Among inmarried Jews who had all the experience we want them to have in college – “group + course + Birthright” – it gets much better. 69% think it is important to have a Jewish spouse. Then again, if this is the group from which we expect the tightest connection to Judaism, is a two out of three outcome satisfactory?

D.

This study does not engage in slogans and sweeping conclusions. It does not tell us if there’s a crisis or a renaissance, if we are going down or up, if we should mourn or be hopeful, if intermarriage is going to ruin us or save us. Refreshingly, it says simple things: we need to lure young Jewish adults into the orbit of college experience, because we know this type of experience works.

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Marlee Matlin reveling in unique ‘Spring Awakening’ revival

Leave a Comment / Culture /

When the rock musical “Spring Awakening” premiered on Broadway, it was a critical darling and financial success. It won almost every major award possible, including eight Tonys, four Drama Desk Awards and even a Grammy.

So perhaps it’s not so surprising that it’s been revived on Broadway, even if it’s only been six years since it ended its successful run.

Certainly more startling, though, is that the current production of “Spring Awakening” features a cast of deaf actors signing their lines — and songs.

Even one of the show’s most high-profile stars, Marlee Matlin, concedes that people might consider the idea — deaf actors performing a musical — a bit strange.

“It’s almost ironic,” she said through her longtime interpreter, Jack Jason. She was on the phone with JTA en route from an interview in Brooklyn to her temporary Manhattan digs rented for the duration of the play, which runs through January.

“You’re talking about something that doesn’t happen every day,” she said. “People who haven’t seen the show have to wonder, how is this going to work?

The answer: very well.

Each deaf actor is accompanied by a hearing one, who sings or speaks what is being signed — in essence, two actors play each main role. While that may sound awkward, it takes audience members just a few minutes to become oriented, in part because the show, a production of the Deaf West Theater, is so creatively staged.

Set in Germany in the late 19th century, the “awakening” in “Spring Awakening” is a sexual one. A group of adolescents must deal with feelings they don’t understand and their repressed parents do not explain. The musical has a rousing score by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik that particularly comes to life when the young actors sing as an ensemble. When that happens, the deaf actors become like dancers; through their fast-paced use of American Sign Language, their hands combine the precision of the Rockettes with the artistry of ballerinas.

Although, like Matlin, a few of the deaf actors have some hearing, “It is not about hearing the music,” she says. In fact, several of the actors who have minimal hearing decided — whether for aesthetic reasons or just to make a statement — not to wear hearing aids during the performance.

“They’re just great actors who incorporate the rhythm into their acting,” says Matlin, who is making her Broadway debut. “It takes a great deal of rehearsal time working with the choreographer to make all this work. You [see] deaf actors on stage signing to music they can’t hear.”

The counterintuitive performance adds a moving and affecting layer to the show it didn’t have in its original production. Matlin says people stop her after every performance to comment on how awe-inspiring this version is.

Matlin, along with actress Camryn Manheim — who, like Matlin, is Jewish — play several adult female roles in the play. While Matlin herself doesn’t sing, she says the “most difficult part was learning my lines in conjunction with the music.”

It was a process with which she was vaguely familiar.

“I didn’t listen to music [when I appeared] on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ she says. “I just used an internal metronome and went with it.” That was in 2008;  she was the sixth celebrity eliminated that season.

“Going with it” is something she’s been doing for a long time. Matlin, 50, was born in a Chicago suburb, the only deaf person in her family. She started to lose her hearing at 18 months.

“I have no idea why and probably never will,” she says.

Her family belonged to B’nai Shalom, the Jewish Temple for the Deaf, in nearby Skokie, which was run by a hearing rabbi whose goal was to bring the deaf and hearing Jewish communities together.

“It started out with deaf and and their hearing family members going to temple together, but it attracted a great number of hearing people” as well, she says.

For Matlin, it provided not only a link to other deaf people, but to her religion.

“It gave me a community to belong to. We’d go to temple Friday nights and I’d learn about my religion and learn about my faith,” she says. “I always looked forward to the community. I got bat mitzvahed there.”

Matlin signed the English parts of the service but learned her Torah portion phonetically and read it in Hebrew.

Matlin wasn’t the only one who did that, and she concedes some of what the deaf children read was unintelligible to members of the congregation.

“But it didn’t matter,” she says, “because they were reading from the Torah and that’s what it was all about.”

The experience at the temple encouraged her in other ways, she maintains.

“It gave me the drive, it gave me the foundation to believe in myself, despite what other people say,” Matlin says.

Her family was also a pillar of strength. At 7, when she said she wanted to be an actress, they enrolled her in a program at the Chicago-based International Center on Deafness and the Arts.

“They loved the idea that I could dream — that I could dream big and wanted to be an actor,” she says.

There Matlin immediately pursued and landed the role of Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.” She continued to appear in the center’s productions for about nine years, until she was 16.

Another Jewish actor, Henry Winkler, also provided critical encouragement. He saw one of her performances and went backstage afterward.

“I told him I wanted to be in Hollywood. He said, ‘believe in yourself,'” she recalls. “He encouraged me over the years, and I took his advice to heart because it was coming from this very famous person. A lot of other people didn’t believe in me.”

In fact, they became so close that Matlin stayed with the Winklers for two years when she went out to Hollywood in her late teens. His mentorship helped her land the role of Sarah Norman in “Children of a Lesser God.”

Her nuanced performance as a custodian at a school for the deaf who becomes romantically involved with a hearing teacher (played by William Hurt) garnered her, at age 21, both an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for best actress — along with a smattering of criticism. One prominent commentator claimed that she didn’t deserve the Oscar because she was deaf and wasn’t really acting. Another said she won it out of pity.

They were “dead wrong,” Matlin says. And she went on to prove it. She has starred in several TV series — including “Reasonable Doubts” and “The L Word” — and had recurring roles in “The West Wing,” “Blues Clues” and “Desperate Housewives,” among others. Matlin has also guest starred in everything from “Seinfeld” to “Law & Order: SVU,” the latter earning her a Primetime Emmy nomination.

While her professional life was relatively ripple-free, her personal life hit rough water early on. In her 2009 autobiography, “I’ll Scream Later,” she writes of her tumultuous off-screen romantic relationship with Hurt, which was was punctuated by episodes of domestic violence. She also went through a period of drug abuse and went to the Betty Ford clinic for treatment.

Fortunately, her personal life turned a corner. She married Los Angeles-area police officer Kevin Grandalski in 1993 in a ceremony that was held at Winkler’s home. Together they have four children aged 12 to 19.

As to her Broadway debut, Matlin is loving it.

“Everything that’s happening is so great; the many messages, the communications from fans,” she says. “It’s a wonderful experience.”

Marlee Matlin reveling in unique ‘Spring Awakening’ revival Read More »

Israel erects concrete barriers between Arab, Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem

Leave a Comment / Israel /

Israel began erecting a portable concrete security wall between Arab and Jewish neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem.

The fence was erected Sunday between the Arab neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber and the Jewish neighborhood of East Talpiot because of Arab youths throwing rocks and firebombs. The concrete blocks resemble part of the West Bank security barrier.

East Talpiot was the site of a stoning attack on a car that killed its Jewish driver on Rosh Hashanah eve, as well as a shooting and stabbing attack on a bus last week that left two Jewish-Israeli men dead. Several homes in the neighborhood also have been hit with firebombs.

Also Sunday, at least four Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv, banned Arab workers from working in local schools while school was in session. Arab-Israeli cleaners and maintenance workers reportedly will be allowed to do their jobs in school buildings after students have left for the day, Reuters reported.

The other cities that have enacted the ban are Modiin-Maccabim-Reut, Rehovot and Hod HaSharon, all in central Israel.

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UNESCO to vote on proposal declaring Western Wall a Muslim site

Leave a Comment / Worldwide /

A Palestinian effort to have a United Nations agency declare Judaism’s holiest site a Muslim holy site is “an attempt to distort history,” Israel said.

UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural body, is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the proposal concerning the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

In a statement Monday, Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the proposal “an attempt to distort history and blur the connection between the Jewish people and its holiest place and to create a false reality,” the Times of Israel reported.

Six Muslim Arab countries submitted the UNESCO proposal on behalf of the Palestinians. The proposal refers to Jerusalem as “the occupied capital of Palestine,” according to Ynet.

The proposal is believed to have a good chance of passing because the majority of UNESCO’s members have historically supported Palestinian bids.

Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Tzipi Hotovely, condemned the proposal, saying, “This shameful and deceitful Palestinian attempt to rewrite history will fail the test of reality.”

The Wall, known in Hebrew as the Kotel, is believed to be one of the few remnants of the retaining wall of the ancient Temple, which the Romans destroyed nearly 2,000 years ago. A venue for Jewish prayer services and individual Jewish prayer, the Wall is a stop on most tours of Israel.

It is adjacent to the Temple Mount, a site holy to both Jews and Muslims.

According to the World Jewish Congress, the proposal blames Israel for the recent escalation of violence and seeks to confirm an earlier UNESCO decision that the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb, two West Bank sites holy to both Jews and Muslims, are part of a Palestinian state.

In a statement Monday, World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder said adopting the resolution would exacerbate tensions in Israel.

The proposal “goes in the face of the UNESCO Constitution, which very clearly states the organization’s aim to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration and coexistence,” Lauder said. “It would make a mockery of that founding principle if the UNESCO Executive Council were to back such a resolution. UNESCO must not be turned into a battleground for conflicts between religions.”​

Several other Jewish organizations, including the Orthodox Union and B’nai B’rith International, also issued statements Monday slamming the proposal.

“We call upon the international community to recognize this resolution for the absurdity that it is,” Nathan Diament, the Orthodox Union’s executive director for public policy, said in a news release.

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ADL honors Matisyahu for standing up to anti-Israel boycott

Leave a Comment / Hollywood /

The Anti-Defamation League honored the American Jewish reggae singer Matisyahu for standing up against an anti-Israel boycott.

Matisyahu performed his anthem “Jerusalem” on Thursday at the ADL annual meeting in Denver.

In August, he was slotted to play at the Rototom SunSplash reggae music festival before BDS activists pressured the event’s organizers to disinvite him because of his support for Israel. Matisyahu, refusing to comply with the demand of organizers that he issue a statement in support of the Palestinian national movement and against Israel, was dropped from the program.

After a backlash from Jewish organizations and the Spanish government, the festival organizers apologized and reinvited Matisyahu. He performed before a crowd that included people waving Palestinian flags, including “Jerusalem,” which stresses the Jewish biblical connection to the land of Israel.

“It is my honor to stand here today as head of ADL to recognize you for having the courage to stand up against those forces of ignorance and intolerance,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s CEO, who presented the performer with a paper cut made in Israel and inscribed with the words “Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself” in Hebrew and in English.

“Thank you for standing with us here today, and thank you for standing up against the forces of bigotry, hatred and intolerance.”

“As someone who has made a commitment to performing as a proudly identified religious Jew, and as someone whose music is imbued with the words of the prophets, you have inspired a generation of young Jews to take pride in their heritage and to connect to it,” Greenblatt said.

In accepting the honor, Matisyahu said of ADL, “When everything was happening in Spain, you guys were the first to speak out, so thank you.”

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German anti-Islam protest swells on fears about refugee influx

Leave a Comment / Worldwide /

The German anti-Islam movement PEGIDA staged its biggest rally in months on Monday, sparked into fresh life on its first anniversary by anger at the government's decision to take in hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East.

PEGIDA, or Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, almost fizzled out earlier this year when its leader resigned after a photo was published of him posing as Hitler.

But it has swelled again as Germany implements Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to accept a tide of refugees that could exceed a million this year, as she argues that Germany can not only cope but, with its aging population, will benefit in the long term.

Police declined to estimate the number of protesters but media put it at 15-20,000, somewhat below a peak of around 25,000 in January. Around 14,000 counter-demonstrators urged people to welcome refugees rather than whip up opposition.

PEGIDA supporters waved the national flag and carried posters bearing slogans such as “Hell comes with fake refugees” and “Every people should have its country, not every people a piece of Germany”.

Gathering outside Dresden's historic opera house, the Semperoper, PEGIDA supporters chanted “Deport! Deport!” and “Merkel must go!”.

“We're just normal people who are scared of what's coming,” said 37-year-old Patrick, a car mechanic. “As a German citizen who pays taxes, you feel like you're being taken for a ride.”

Lutz Bachmann, the leader who resigned, told the rally: “Politicians attack and defame us and the lowest tricks are used to keep our mouths shut. We are threatened with death, there are attacks on our vehicles and houses and we are dragged through the mud, but we are still here … And we will triumph!”

COUNTER-DEMONSTRATION

The counter-demonstrators marched through the town chanting: “Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here!”

As many German municipalities struggle to house and support the wave of migrants, criticism of Merkel's policy has grown, her ratings have slipped, and there have been arson attacks on refugee centers.

Simone Peter, leader of the Greens party and one of the counter-demonstrators, told Reuters: “We're for diversity and an open, colorful society, not hatred and violence … the people who incite with right-wing slogans add fuel to the fire of the arsonists.”

PEGIDA has more than 172,000 'Likes' on its Facebook page and wants Germany to stop taking asylum seekers immediately.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Sunday that PEGIDA's organizers were “hard right-wing extremists” and everyone who attended their demonstrations “should know that they are running after rat catchers”.

Thomas Jaeger, political scientist at Cologne University, said PEGIDA and the right-wing Alternative for Germany party were being allowed by the government to define how the refugee crisis was perceived by many people.

“What seems to be worrying a lot of people now is that people from different cultures are coming here, and they don't know how they will integrate, and that's quite a diffuse fear, and that's now being exploited by some political forces.”

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Nuclear deal on Iran program to be implemented this year, says Iranian official

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Iran's nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi said on Monday he expected a deal with six world powers on shrinking Tehran's atomic program in exchange for sanctions relief to be implemented by year-end.

“Hopefully before the end of this year certainly we would have the implementation day,” Araqchi told reporters after meeting senior officials from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, Germany and France in Vienna.

The United States and the European Union took formal legal steps on Sunday that will lift sanctions once Iran meets certain conditions such as reducing the number of centrifuges used to enrich uranium, and its enriched uranium stockpile.

Germany's foreign minister said the EU sanctions were likely to remain in place at least until January.

When asked whether Iran had started mothballing centrifuges, Araqchi said the process had not begun yet.

“We need an order by the president to the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation to start the job. That would be done after some preparations that we still need to do in the coming days. So it would soon start,” Araqchi said.

Sunday's moves have no immediate effect but cement a process that began with the deal reached in July to end sanctions against Iran once it shrinks its nuclear program that the West suspected was aimed at developing a nuclear bomb. Iran denies this charge.

In July Iran also agreed to reduce its stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to 300 kg of 3.67-percent fissile purification for 15 years. Weapons grade uranium must be enriched to around 90 percent fissile purity.

Iran's stockpile of uranium enriched to under 5 percent purity stood at 7,845.4 kg, according to the latest report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Iran could dilute the excess LEU or sell it abroad in exchange for natural uranium.

“We are on schedule and we think we can do this business instead of diluting. We can do the business and receive natural uranium in return for selling our enriched uranium to outside,” Araqchi said, declining to say whom Iran is in talks with.

Russia has in the past supplied Iran with reactor fuel.

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