This week in power: Rahimi speech, Morsi, Circumcision law, Jewish prize

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Rahimi stirs the pot
Iran’s Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi ” title=”http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/06/27/more-united-nations-anti-semitism-from-iran-drug-conference/” target=”_blank”>said Jonathan S. Tobin at Commentary. Alan Dershowitz sounded off at Newsmax ” title=”http://www.jpost.com/VideoArticles/Video/Article.aspx?id=275085″ target=”_blank”>first speech, he said that he intends to “preserve international accords and obligations” and would act on behalf of all Egyptian citizens, and in their best interests. “There is no doubt about it: This Morsi is not only bad for Israel, he is mostly bad for his countrymen,” ” title=”http://www.thejewishweek.com/editorial-opinion/editorial/newold-egypt” target=”_blank”>advised The Jewish Week: “Wisely, Israel has kept a low profile for now, emphasizing its desire for peace. But change is coming to Egypt, and it is sure to be a rocky path, either on the road to a military regime, an Iran-like government ruled by Islamic law or, we hope, to wider democracy.” But not everyone agrees that this is such a bad thing. “It is time they use their economic and political leverage to help Egypt in its transition from anarchy and corruption to a fully-fledged democracy, for the interest not only of Egypt but for a better Middle East,” ” title=”http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/157240#.T-uXMyM5ylx” target=”_blank”>decided that circumcision is a criminal offense. The ruling has upset both Jews and Muslims alike, causes bodily harm and therefore is a crime, a Cologne court ruled. It comes after a four-year-old boy died after a circumcision had been performed on him. Arguing about the medical risks is tough, ” title=”http://ordinary-gentlemen.com/blog/2012/06/german-circumcision-ruling/” target=”_blank”>said Jason Kuznicki at The League of Ordinary Gentlemen, “You can’t just go up to Judaism and start ripping pages out of it. Circumcision is another one of those issues where theory remakes the world, but practice lags behind.”

Geller canceled
The woman behind the popular Atlas Shrugged blog had her event at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles halted at the last minute after the organization “cravenly submitted to Islamic supremacists who wanted to suppress free speech,” ” title=”http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/pamela-geller-event-at-jewish-federation-cancelled/0019213″ target=”_blank”>said Sheila Musaji at The American Muslim. “Free speech rightfully protects even conspiratorial haters to exploit fears from stereotypes, and animus from half truths,” ” title=”http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/world/europe/russians-establish-1-million-jewish-prize-with-israel.html” target=”_blank”>announced this week with ties between the Israeli government and Russian donors. “It’s just one of the signs of the good relations between Israel and Russia in general,” said one official. “We can say a lot of things about the present-day government, but one thing we can tell for sure is they are not anti-Semites.” Many people praised the award for demonstrating strong ties between the two countries. “I am not Russian – but am proud to be on the board of RAJE (and our President is also not Russian – he’s just a proud Jew) – and the facts remain that Jews from the former Soviet Union have to be reconnected with their Heritage and the wider Jewish community, and so few are focused on it,”