St. Louis passenger to State Dept: Don’t ‘deny Holocaust survivors our legal rights’
(JNS.org) At a U.S. State Department program on Monday marking the 73rd anniversary of the SS St. Louis voyage, honoree Herbert Karliner—one of the voyage’s surviving passengers—handed department officials a letter urging their so-far absent support of legislation that would aid the restitution of Holocaust-era insurance claims.
The Miami Beach, Fla., resident—who as a child saw his father’s Peiskrescham, Germany, store destroyed by the Nazis during Kristallnacht in November 1938, and whose mother, father, and two sisters were all murdered at Auschwitz—is seeking the payout of an insurance policy from Allianz that in 2011 was valued by economist Sidney J. Zabludoff at $180,000. That claim, according to Karliner’s letter (a copy of which was released by Holocaust Survivors’ Foundation-USA), is among the $20 billion insurance companies such as Allianz and Generali owe Holocaust victims and their families.
While the proposed Tom Lantos Justice for Holocaust Survivors Act (H.R. 890) would, as its language says, “allow Holocaust survivors (or their heirs) to pursue civil actions in federal courts against insurance companies related to World War II-era insurance policies,” the State Department has opposed that legislation.
“The Department of State has sought for many years to resolve claims for restitution or compensation for Holocaust survivors and other victims of the Nazi era through dialogue, negotiation, and cooperation rather than through litigation,” the department said in a memo this year. “H. R. 890, by reopening Holocaust-era insurance cases already resolved through diplomatic agreements, previous foreign state restitution programs or international commissions, and class action settlements in federal court, would, if enacted, conflict with these objectives. It would open the floodgates to litigation, undermine commitments made by the United States, and weaken our ability to achieve such settlements in the future.”
Karliner wrote in his letter that the State Department “pretends to honor me and other Holocaust victims” at events such as the one held Monday, while at the same time “working hard to deny Holocaust survivors our legal rights.”
“Because of this Administration’s actions, I and every other Holocaust survivor are second-class citizens under the law,” he wrote.
*
After two victories, Israel’s World Baseball Classic run ended by Spain
(JNS.org) Israel fell to Spain, 9-7, in 10 innings Sunday to end the Jewish state’s run in the World Baseball Classic (WBC).
Two days earlier, Israel had defeated Spain, 4-2, behind two home runs from San Diego Padres prospect Nate Freiman, who also slugged two homers in the team’s 7-3 win over South Africa Sept. 19 in the first game of the WBC’s qualifying round in Jupiter, Fla.
Israel’s 28-man roster was headlined by former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielders Shawn Green and Gabe Kapler. The team was mainly comprised of American-born Jewish players who were allowed to compete because they can claim Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return. Three of the team’s 28 players were born in Israel—Shlomo Lipetz, Alon Leichman and Dan Rothem—and 10 were from the Los Angeles area.
While baseball was introduced to Israel in 1927, it has been slow to catch on. Currently, between 1,000 and 3,000 Israelis play in organized baseball or softball leagues, according to the Times of Israel. A number of attempts have been made to grow the sport in the Jewish state, including the Israel Baseball League (IBL), an experiment that ended after one year in 2007.
If Israel were to have advanced past the qualifying round, several current Jewish MLB players reportedly would have considered joining the team, including Chicago White Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis, Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun, and Texas Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler.
*
As Sinai threat grows, Egypt warns Israel against acting alone
(JNS.org) As calls are being heard for the Israel Defense Forces to enter Sinai to combat rampant terror there, Cairo sent a clear message on Monday that it will not allow Israeli forces to enter the Egyptian peninsula, Israel Hayom reported, citing the Egyptian website “Masrawy.”
“Egypt will cut off the hand of any aggressor, from within as well as without,” an unnamed senior official in Egypt’s Supreme Military Council said, according to the website.
The official reportedly added that the Egyptian leadership was closely monitoring developments in Israel following a deadly clash Sept. 21 between Sinai terrorists and Israeli forces on the Sinai border. All three terrorists were killed in the clash, as was one Israeli soldier.
Egypt is “conducting itself wisely and calmly, and will not let anyone harm even one centimeter of Sinai soil,” the official was quoted as saying.
On Sunday, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz remarked that even when Israel completely seals its border with Egypt, the threat of terror emanating from Sinai will not be eliminated.
*
Obama, Ahmadinejad both describe Netanyahu’s Iran statements as ‘noise’
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) U.S. President Barack Obama and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad both treat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for the U.S. to set a “red line” over Iran’s nuclear drive as “noise,” according to two recent interviews.
In an interview with the CBS program “60 Minutes” on Sunday, Obama said that he shares Netanyahu’s concerns over Iran but will make policy decisions based on U.S. interests.
“I understand and share Prime Minister Netanyahu’s insistence that Iran should not obtain a nuclear weapon because it would threaten us, it would threaten Israel and it would threaten the world and kick off a nuclear arms race,” the U.S. president said.
But, asked by the interviewer if he feels any pressure from Netanyahu to “draw a line in the sand,” Obama said, “When it comes to our national security decisions, any pressure that I feel is simply to do what’s right for the American people. And I am going to block out any noise that’s out there.”
Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, dismissed Netanyahu’s demands as “noise” in an interview with The Washington Post published Monday.
Ahmadinejad said, “We, generally speaking, do not take very seriously the issue of the Zionists and the possible dangers emanating from them … Of course, they would love to find a way for their own salvation by making a lot of noise and to raise stakes in order to save themselves. But I do not believe they will succeed.”
*
California students respond to ‘undemocratic’ anti-Israel resolution
By Jacob Kamaras/JNS.org
After being caught off guard by a resolution condemning a measure that would combat anti-Semitism on California state campuses, pro-Israel students at the University of California-Berkeley have responded by highlighting what they call the resolution’s undemocratic nature.
The 12-member University of California Student Association (UCSA) on Sept. 15 registered two abstentions and 10 votes in condemnation of HR35—a unanimously passed State Assembly resolution urging California schools to squelch nascent anti-Semitism and crack down on anti-Israel demonstrations. HR35 also said Israel should not be called a “racist” state.
The UCSA, however, said HR35 “is written to unfairly and falsely smear as ‘anti-Semites’ those who do human rights advocacy focusing on Israel’s illegal occupation, alleging that the UC faculty and staff involved in such work are motivated by anti-Semitism rather than by the political ideals of equality and respect for universal human rights they affirm, ideals UCSA and most California students share.” UCSA also called for the University of California Board of Regents to divest from companies doing business with Israel due to their alleged human rights violations.
Ariel Fridman, vice president of UC Berkeley’s Tikvah Students for Israel and an Emerson Fellow for pro-Israel advocacy and education group StandWithUs, told JNS.org that Jewish students learned of the UCSA resolution a mere half-hour before Rosh Hashanah and were “completely blindsided” by it.
“Most students don’t even know that the UCSA exists,” Fridman said in a phone interview. “It was completely not on our radar. So for them to have a meeting and a resolution pass without any of our knowledge took us by complete surprise. They didn’t have an agenda published, there wasn’t really any information or outreach to anybody.”
UCSA’s credibility is damaged by the fact that it acted “without any community involvement,” Fridman added.
Due to Rosh Hashanah observance, the Tivkah group was not initially able to take unified action against the UCSA resolution, according to Fridman. But since Rosh Hashanah, Tikvah has mobilized students to write op-eds responding to the resolution and countered a Sept. 20 anti-HR35 rally organized by Students for Justice in Palestine.
Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs, criticized the UCSA resolution’s “devious, undemocratic tactics.”
“They essentially ambushed Jewish and other pro-Israel students by using secretive tactics, not notifying anyone who might disagree with the proposed resolution,” Rothstein said in a statement.
*
Film on Tel Aviv Hasidic community will be Israeli entry at Oscars
By Ronen Shnidman/JNS.org
HAIFA—The Oscars’ foreign film entry from Israel this year will be Fill the Void, a work that reveals an inside perspective on Tel Aviv’s Hasidic community.
The movie automatically gained its berth for this year’s Academy Awards after winning the Best Feature Film category at Israel’s Ophir Awards on Sept. 21, along with another six of the 15 awards given by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television at Haifa’s Krieger Hall.
Fill the Void had a remarkably strong showing for first-time feature film director and ba’alat teshuva Rama Burshtein, who is Hasidic herself. Her movie won half of the 14 awards it was nominated for, netting Burshtein awards for best director and best script, as well as best film.
“There’s been so many twists and turns, it just goes to show that it is all really up to God at the end of the day,” Burshtein told JNS.org right before leaving the Haifa venue to return home for the start of the Sabbath.
Lead actress Hadas Yaron also took home the Ophir award of best lead actress for her role in the film as Shira, an 18-year-old woman who must decide whether or not to fulfill the wishes of her family by marrying her widowed brother-in-law, Yochay.
Reacting to Fill the Void’s victory in the best film category, Burshtein said she “never thought this would happen.”
At a news conference earlier this month, Burshtein said the Orthodox world “is so interesting it does not need to cope with the secular.”
“It can be very interesting and the drama can be very strong inside,” she said.
While 10 Israeli films have been nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars, none have won the award yet. Last year’s nominee from Israel was Joseph Cedar’s Footnote.
*
French far-right leader calls for kippa ban
(JNS.org) French politician Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front party, sparked controversy this weekend with a call to ban traditional Jewish head coverings known as kippot.
Le Pen, known for her anti-immigrant and nationalist positions, has long called on banning Islamic head coverings such as the niqab and burka, and has now added kippot to the fray.
“Obviously, if the veil is banned, the kippa [should be] banned in public as well,” the French daily Le Monde quoted Le Pen in an interview published Sept. 21.
French President Francois Hollande denounced Le Pen’s call for a ban on religious head coverings, saying, “Everything that tears people apart … divides them, is inappropriate.”
The president of the Conference of European Rabbis, Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, said Le Pen has, “once again, exposed herself as being unworthy of the mainstream French political space,” according to the Jerusalem Post.
France’s National Front party was founded in the 1970s by Jean-Marie Le Pen. Marine, who succeeded her father, placed third in last spring’s presidential election.
*
Lieberman: No changes to Egypt peace treaty
(JNS.org) Speaking amid rumors that Egypt’s Islamist leaders are planning on re-examining the military appendix of the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian Peace Treaty, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman flatly rejected any indication Israel would agree.
“There is no chance that Israel will agree to any kind of change” to the peace deal, Lieberman told Israel Radio. “The Egyptians shouldn’t try to delude themselves or delude others, and they should not rely on this demand,” he said.
The change that Lieberman is alluding to is the agreement to limit the amount of Egyptian troops and heavy weapons in the Sinai Peninsula under the treaty. Since the Egyptian Revolution last year, Islamic terrorists have increasingly taken advantage of the region’s lawlessness to launch attacks on Egyptian and Israeli targets, such as last week’s attack that killed an Israeli soldier.
Speaking on the issue, Mohamed Essmat Seif al-Dawla, a political advisor to Egypt’s president, said that Egypt has the right to defend all its territory. “The military appendix in the Camp David Accords is inconsistent with the Egyptian constitution, which stipulates that Egypt’s armed forces have the full right to defend the state’s sovereignty,” he said.
However, according to Israel Hayom, Lieberman said that what Sinai lacked was not more Egyptian troops, but rather a willingness on the part of the government to fight terrorists in the peninsula.
While Israel is alarmed by the increasing terrorist activity, it is also skeptical of the long-term motivations of the Muslim Brotherhood-controlled Egyptian government.
*
Israel set to open talks with PA over Gaza natural gas fields
(JNS.org) Israel has agreed to hold new talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) over the development of a natural gas field off the coast of Gaza, an Israeli Foreign Ministry report released Sunday said.
The field is estimated to hold 1.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. It was first discovered over a decade ago by British Gas after authorization by then-prime minister Ehud Barak, but has remained untouched since, Ma’ariv reported.
“Development of the Gaza Marine gas field will generate revenues that could contribute dramatically to Palestinian fiscal sustainability,” the report says.
However, it is unclear how Israel and the PA would go forward with the development of the field off the coast of Hamas-controlled Gaza, given that Hamas is a terrorist organization.
*
Sinai terrorists kill IDF solider and injure another near Israel-Egypt border
(JNS.org) Terrorists from an al-Qaida-inspired group killed an Israeli soldier and injured another in the Sinai Peninsula near the Israel-Egypt border at noon Sept. 21.
On Saturday, a Salafi organization called Ansar Jerusalem claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was a “disciplinary attack against those who insulted the beloved Prophet” through the production of the film “Innocence of Muslims,” which has been linked to recent protests throughout the Arab world.
The three Ansar Jerusalem terrorists came to the border between Egypt and Israel south of Mount Sagi. In that area, the defensive fence being built by Israel is not yet complete. The terrorists came with explosive belts, assault rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade. After the soldiers, who were guarding contractors working on the fence, were shot, the IDF returned fire, killing all three terrorists.
Forces “thwarted a major terror attack that was supposed to take place in Israeli territory,” IDF Spokesperson Yoav Mordechai told Yedioth Ahronoth.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that without Israel’s decision to build the security fence along its border with Sinai, the country “would be flooded with illegal labor infiltrators, and terror squads.” A larger attack than what occurred Sept. 21 “was prevented largely due to this decision [to build the security fence] and the action taken by IDF soldiers,” Netanyahu said, according to Israel Hayom.
*
France inaugurates new Holocaust memorial
(JNS.org) A new memorial for the Jews who were sent to an internment camp during the Holocaust by the Nazi-collaborating French Vichy regime was inaugurated Sept. 21 by the French government. The best-known camp was Drancy, located north of Paris, in which nearly 65,000 Jews passed on their way to Holocaust death camps outside of France. Only 2,000 of the Jews interred there survived.
French President Francois Hollande said he hopes what happened at Drancy would lead to “vigilance” today, the Associated Press reported. France first openly addressed its own government’s role in the Holocaust under then-President Jacques Chirac in the 1990s. Since then, the French government erected several memorials around the country to French-Jewish Holocaust victims.
*
Ahmadinejad calls ‘Innocence of Muslims’ film an Israeli plot
(JNS.org) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sept. 21 produced another anti-Israel conspiracy theory by saying the film Innocence of Muslims, which has been linked to protests throughout the Arab world, was a plot by the Jewish state to “divide [Muslims] and spark sectarian conflict,” AFP reported.
Ahmadinejad’s remarks come despite Californian Coptic Christian Nakoula Basseley Nakoula’s admitted involvement with the film and the refutation of initial reports of Jewish involvement. “Israeli Jew” Sam Bacile, initially identified in reports as the producer of the film mocking the prophet Mohammed, turned out to be a pseudonym.
Speaking at a parade for the anniversary of the beginning of the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, Ahmadinejad blasted the U.S. for only selectively censoring the film and said Iran should use the “same spirit and belief in itself” from that war to combat sanctions and other pressure from the international community in response to its nuclear program.
*
IDF thwarts planned terror attack
(JNS.org) An Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft successfully killed two terrorists affiliated with the Defenders of al-Aqsa terror organization in the southern Gaza Strip on Sept. 20.
One of the terrorists, Anis Abu Mahmoud el-Anin, was in the final stages of planning an attack against Israeli civilians. The other terrorist, Ashraf Mahmoud Salah, had admitted in a previous investigation to helping others plan attacks on Israel from Egypt.
The IDF has become more concerned with Gaza terrorists taking advantage of the situation in Egypt to launch attacks against Israel. Both men were also involved in smuggling weapons into Gaza, the IDF said.
*
‘Support Israel, Defeat Jihad’ ad to appear on NYC subways
(JNS.org) An advertisement condemning radical Islam and supporting Israel will appear in 10 New York City subway stations beginning this week, despite city attempts to prevent the campaign, CNN reported.
The ad, which has generated some controversy over its message, reads: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man, Support Israel, Defeat Jihad.”
New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) initially refused to allow the ad to appear. However, a federal judge overturned the MTA decision, arguing that the ad is protected under the First Amendment.
“We don’t think it’s controversial,” said Pamela Geller, the executive director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), the organization behind the advertisement. “It’s truth. The MTA has run anti-Israel ads before and no one had an issue about it. ‘Any war on innocent civilians is savagery’: What’s controversial here?”
*
One injured in French kosher supermarket explosion
(JNS.org) A package bomb exploded Sept. 19 inside a suburban kosher grocery store near Paris, France. One person was wounded.
The explosion in Sarcelles (Val d’Oise), a Paris suburb, happened after two hooded individuals dressed in black entered the store in the morning, placed the package and threw what may have been a rock or a Molotov cocktail, according to different accounts from people on scene, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
It is still unclear whether the incident is connected to the riots that broke out in the Middle East after a film mocking the Prophet Muhammad was recently posted on YouTube, or connected to the decision by a French newspaper to publish caricatures representing the prophet.
Sixty-thousand people reside in Sarcelles, many of them Jews. “We might be Jews but this is our country, our life is here and we won’t be scared away easily. I just don’t understand why the police doesn’t take more drastic measures against those Muslim rioters,” said Charlie Levy, an owner of a business close the supermarket.
*
Polls: Swing state voters fear Obama foreign policy, Florida Jews back him 69%
(JNS.org) A public opinion poll conducted in the battleground states of Florida and Ohio reveals widespread belief that U.S. President Barack Obama’s foreign policy strategy, particularly regarding Iran, may fail. The poll also reveals favorable views of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Israel Hayom.
Commissioned by Secure America Now, which describes itself as non-partisan, the foreign policy poll was taken after the start of the recent wave of anti-U.S. protests in the Middle East.
More than 65 percent of voters in Florida and a similar percentage of Ohio voters said Obama’s policy would not convince the Iranians to halt their nuclear program. More than three-quarters of Florida voters and 70 percent of Ohio voters said a nuclear Iran would arm terrorists who would use the nuclear weapons to attack the U.S. A full 61.2 percent of Florida voters and 58.8 percent of Ohio voters said they approved of an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Nearly 48 percent of respondents in Florida and 45.9 percent of Ohio voters expressed favorable opinions of Netanyahu. Just over 50 percent of Florida voters and 56.6 percent of Ohio voters said the language calling Jerusalem Israel’s capital had been intentionally omitted by the Obama administration before being put back in the Democratic party platform.
The American Jewish Committee, meanwhile, released a different poll showing that Florida Jewish voters place Obama ahead of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney by 69 percent to 25 percent. Five percent of respondents were undecided, but none of them indicated a leaning toward Romney, the National Jewish Democratic Council noted in a statement on the poll. A recent Gallup poll also found that Obama is leading Romney 70 percent to 25 percent among Jewish voters nationwide.
*
Preceding provided by JNS.org and reprinted with permission