Jewish news briefs: April 23, 2015

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Obama refuses to meet Netanyahu until after Iran nuclear deal deadline
(JNS.org) President Barack Obama reportedly said he will not meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu until after the June 30 deadline for a final nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Citing anonymous sources familiar with a meeting between Obama and Jewish leaders at the White House last week, the New York Times reported Wednesday that Obama “told the group that a face-to-face meeting at the White House would probably end with Mr. Netanyahu publicly venting his complaints about the president’s policies, particularly his efforts to forge a nuclear agreement with Iran.”

Therefore, Obama reportedly said he would limit his current conversations with Netanyahu to the telephone and hold off on inviting the prime minister to the White House until after June 30.

Obama had also refused to meet Netanyahu when the latter visited Washington, DC, in March to speak before Congress and the American Israel Public Affairs Affairs Committee conference, citing the close proximity of Netanyahu’s visit to that month’s Israeli election. After Netanyahu won the election, Obama and other officials in his administration issued sharp criticisms of the prime minister’s pre-election comments about a Palestinian state and Israeli Arab voters.

Meanwhile, U.S.-Israel disagreements over the Iranian nuclear issue have persisted following the recently reached framework deal with Iran. In addition to Netanyahu, leaders from across the Israeli political spectrum have expressed concern about the agreement.
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Catholic charity group pledges $2.8 million to Syria’s persecuted Christians
(JNS.org) The international Catholic charity group Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has pledged $2.8 million in emergency aid to Christians in Syria.

According to ACN, the money will help fund a number of projects to help the large Christian communities in Aleppo, Homs, Damascus, and other cities and villages that have been hit by the Syrian civil war. These projects include providing funds for Christians to purchase oil and gas for their homes, emergency medical supplies, repairs and energy costs for schools, and repairs for churches.

Since the civil war began in 2011, hundreds of Syrian Christians have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been driven from their homes. Many Christians have only accepted limited relief benefits from the United Nations and relief agencies out due to their fear of registering with those groups—and thus formally identifying as Christians, possibly opening themselves up to attacks by Islamic extremists.

“Aleppo’s Christians are afraid that what happened in Mosul will also happen to them. This is a new and, unfortunately, justified fear of religious cleansing. The Islamic State [terror group] openly shows its murderous intentions against anyone who does not bend to its brand of extremism,” Father Andrzej Halemba, head of ACN’s Middle East section, said in a statement.
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Dutch Baptist pastor takes to the streets to show solidary with Israel and Jews
(JNS.org) A Netherlands-based Baptist pastor and members of his church took to the streets of Amsterdam with Israeli flags in order to express support for Israel and Dutch Jews.

Canadian-born pastor Stan Kamps, who runs an English-speaking church in the Dutch city of Almere, led a group of his church’s parishioners who walked around Amsterdam holding Israeli flags and handing out literature about Israel to people they encountered.

“So many people believe the lies and propaganda they are being fed about Israel. This is why I go out with my Israeli flag, to encourage Jewish and Israeli people, and to speak with others [who] will listen about the truth in regards to Israel,” Kamps wrote in an email to the Jerusalem Post.

Kamps said he is very concerned about anti-Semitism in the Netherlands, citing a Jerusalem Post report that Dutch Chief Rabbi Benjamin Jacobs is frequently accosted with anti-Semitic epithets.

“[I] want [Jacobs] to know that we love him and are praying for him and his safety,” Kamps wrote. “I hope that this will also encourage others to stand up for our Jewish neighbors and for Israel. It has to start somewhere and I know that with God’s help we can make a difference. I say let it start with me.”

Kamps is not the only member of his family to stand up for Dutch Jews. “My grandfather had a farm and business in the north of the country, so [he and Kamps’s uncle] were able to hide Jewish people there until they were caught” and arrested by the Nazis during the Holocaust, wrote the pastor.
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‘Bookkeeper’ of Auschwitz on trial in Germany
(JNS.org) Oskar Gröning, the 93-year-old former Nazi SS guard who served at the Auschwitz death camp from 1942-1944 and was known as the camp’s “bookkeeper,” is facing justice this week in a German court in a trial attended by several Holocaust survivors who were Auschwitz prisoners.

Although he did not personally kill anyone during his time at the concentration camp, Gröning is accused of complicity in the murders of 300,000 Hungarian Jewish prisoners.

On Wednesday, Gröning described how he was told by his superiors to work the “ramp,” the area where arriving Auschwitz prisoners were split into two groups: those who were put to work and those who were sent to the gas chambers.

“There was a little baby left lying behind on the ramp, after the main group was marched away, and it was crying,” Gröning told the court,the British newspaper The Independent reported. “I turned round and saw one of my comrades pick up the child. He grabbed it by the legs and smashed it again and again against the iron side of a truck until it was silent—when I saw that my world broke down.”

“[When] I saw what my comrade did with the baby, I told him I thought what he did was wrong, but my comrade replied, ‘What did you want me to do—run after the mother and give her back her baby? You can’t do that. I had to kill the baby,'” said Gröning.

Earlier this week, Gröning asked for forgiveness and admitted that he is “without question morally complicit in the killing of millions of people.” But “whether I am legally guilty is a matter this court must decide,” he said.

Legal experts have said that Gröning is likely the final Auschwitz guard to go on trial.
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Congress introduces $286 million bill for missile defense in Israel
(JNS.org) A new bipartisan bill introduced Tuesday by U.S. Reps. Derek Kilmer (D-Washington) and Jim Bridenstine (R-Oklahoma) would authorize $286 million in funding for the joint U.S.-Israel David’s Sling missile defense system.

David’s Sling is currently being jointly developed by Israel’s Rafael Advance Defense Systems and American’s Raytheon Company. The system defends against medium-range and long-range rockets and missiles that are outside the range of the highly successful Iron Dome system, which primarily defends the Jewish state against short-range rockets.

“Israel faces an immediate and growing missile threat. Hamas and Hezbollah and their supporters in Iran and Syria are developing more sophisticated and longer-range missiles aimed squarely against our best ally in the Middle East,” Kilmer said in a statement.

Noting the success of the Iron Dome system, Kilmer added, “David’s Sling will provide additional protection by intercepting incoming missiles too far out of range for the Iron Dome. U.S.-Israeli co-development of David’s Sling demonstrates the unshakable American commitment to Israel’s security.”
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New York rabbi to receive knighthood from Pope Francis
(JNS.org) Rabbi Arthur Schneier of Park East Synagogue in New York is slated to receive knighthood from Pope Francis later this month.

Schneier, who is a Holocaust survivor and founder of the interfaith group Appeal of Conscience Foundation, will receive the papal knighthood for promoting peace and religious understanding during a ceremony at the Holy See’s mission at the United Nations.

The rabbi, who has served as spiritual leader of Park East Synagogue since 1962, has received numerous international awards for promoting coexistence as well as inter-ethnic and inter-religious cooperation. In 2013, he also received the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest civilian awards in the U.S.

“Pope Francis is bestowing the honor on Rabbi Arthur Schneier, who has worked unceasingly to promote peace and mutual understanding, in the firm conviction that respect for fundamental human rights, including religious freedom, are indispensable values for all peoples of the world to enjoy peace, security and shared prosperity,” Archbishop Bernardito Auza, permanent observer of the Holy See to the U.N., said in a statement. “A Holocaust survivor, Rabbi Schneier has always held this conviction in his heart and made it a principle of life.”

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Articles from JNS.org appear on San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman.
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