Jewish news briefs: April 27, 2015

 

Red-headed Dr. Giora Weiser, nephew of Rabbi Simcha Weiser, headmaster of the Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School, readies to fly to Nepal with other members of Israel's rapid response team.
Red-headed Dr. Giora Weiser, nephew of Rabbi Simcha Weiser, headmaster of the Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School, readies to fly to Nepal with other members of Israel’s rapid response team. (Photo courtesy of Rabbi Weiser)

Israeli and American Jewish rescue efforts aid Nepal after devastating quake

jns logo short version(JNS.org) As an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale continues to claim victims in Nepal—3,600 deaths as of Monday—a 260-member Israeli rescue team headed for Nepal to assist local authorities. The Israeli mission was delayed by 12 hours due to earthquake damage at the airport in Nepal’s capital of Kathmandu.

The Israeli mission includes an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) field hospital, a trained rescue team, and a security team.

“You are being sent on an important mission,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, addressing the Israeli team members. “This is the true face of Israel—a country that offers aid over any distance at such moments.”

Besides the general Nepalese population affected by the earthquake, Israel is concerned about its own citizens in Nepal. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that 600 Israelis were in Nepal when the earthquake struck, and that contact has been established with about 400 of them. No contact has been established yet with 120 Israeli backpackers.

Also sending rescue teams from Israel to Nepal were the humanitarian and emergency response organizations Magen David Adom, United Hatzalah, Zaka, F.I.R.S.T., IsraLife, IsraAID, and others, as well as the private insurance companies Harel and Phoenix.

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), meanwhile, said it is partnering with the IDF field hospital in Kathmandu through providing equipment such as neonatal incubators.

“As we ensure that aid crucial to the survival and wellbeing of victims in the first days following a disaster are secured and distributed, our team will begin to lay the foundation for our longer-term efforts to help the Nepalese people recover from this unprecedented crisis,” said Mandie Winston, director of JDC’s International Development Program.

In San Diego, the Jewish Federation reported that it is “mobilizing a communal response with 100% of funds raised supporting relief efforts by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). JDC’s emergency teams are coordinating with local authorities, the Nepalese and Indian governments, and global partners to address survivors’ immediate needs. This includes working with UNICEF to secure supplies to meet children’s shelter, nutrition, water and sanitation needs. The JDC is also working with the Israel Defense Forces’ field hospital in Nepal to provide medical equipment, including two neonatal incubators. The JDC’s rapid assessment team of disaster experts will arrive in Nepal this week to direct further efforts.”

*

Irans Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: blacks oppressed by police in U.S.

(JNS.org) Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday blasted the United States for “Hollywood-style” policing practices, describing the behavior of the U.S. police toward blacks an example of “cruel power.”

Khamenei told a group of senior Iranian police officers in Tehran that the black minority in the U.S. is subjected to “oppression” and “humiliation” by police, Iran’s state-run Press TV reported.

A 2013 report by the United Nations accused Iran of executing prisoners, including juveniles, and of arresting dissidents who are often tortured in jail, sometimes to death. About 300 executions were announced by the Iranian government last year. Drug-related crimes account for 80 percent of Iran’s executions, and smugglers are denied the right to appeal the death penalty, according to the U.N.

*

Polish city to secure Jewish cemetery after vandalism

(JNS.org) The city of Olkusz in southern Poland has decided to set up security at its Jewish cemetery and build a high wall around the site following vandalism and anti-Semitic graffiti that defaced headstones.

Israel Hayom had reported that dozens of headstones were smashed, some were burned, and others were sprayed with graffiti, including the Polish words for “Jews out.”

Many in Poland expressed anger that the cemetery was unprotected. When the criticism reached Olkusz Mayor Roman Piasnik, he announced that the situation was unacceptable and decided to take immediate action to protect the cemetery from anti-Semitic gangs.

City Councilman Adam Szydlowski, who was active in promoting security for the site, said, “I’m happy that this is what the mayor decided. He promised to take care of the matter without delay. I hope and believe that the promise will soon become action. I’m following the subject of the Jewish cemeteries in the area and vandalism like this must not be happen again.”

*

Israeli police officers injured in Jerusalem vehicular attack, Hebron stabbing

(JNS.org) Israeli police on Sunday arrested a Palestinian man over a vehicular terror attack that injured four police officers on Saturday in Jerusalem.

The suspect, 31-year-old Fadi Saleh from the Shuafat refugee camp, allegedly deliberately drove his car into a sidewalk at an intersection near the Mount of Olives. The four police officers wounded by the car-ramming attack were evacuated to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center.

Riots broke out in the area following the attack, with several dozen Arabs throwing rocks at Israeli police and paramedics, damaging ambulances in the process.

Also on Saturday, a Palestinian man in his 20s stabbed an Israeli border policeman in the face and neck near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. The attacker was shot and killed, while the policeman was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center and was listed in moderate condition.

*

Reports: Israeli Air Force conducts two strikes in Syria

(JNS.org) Israel struck targets in Syria to prevent the transfer of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah, Arab media reported over the weekend, while Israeli officials remained silent on the matter.

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) reportedly hit Syria twice within 48 hours between last Wednesday and Friday nights. Al Arabiya reported that the first strike, which took place Wednesday night in the Qalamoun Mountains north of Damascus, destroyed a Hezbollah weapons convoy.

Al Jazeera reported that the IAF conducted another strike in the Qalamoun Mountains on Friday night, hitting weapons-storage facilities belonging to the Syrian military. An eyewitness said that long-range missiles, including Scuds, were located in the struck areas.

Eyewitnesses said Syrian soldiers, Hezbollah fighters, and Iranian Revolutionary Guard members were killed in the strikes. If conducted by Israel, the strikes likely aimed to thwart the transfer of long-range missiles from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

*

Iranian lawmakers seek to ban all Israeli-born visitors

(JNS.org) Iranian lawmakers are calling for a ban on all Israeli-born visitors after a reporter from Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper recently visited the Islamic Republic using her American passport.

While anyone with an Israeli passport is banned from entering Iran, Orly Azouly, the Israeli newspaper’s correspondent in Washington, DC, obtained a visa from the Iranian Foreign Ministry and traveled to Iran as part of a delegation organized by the New York Times.

Azouly wrote several reports on her visit to Tehran, including on a synagogue in Isfahan and the Tomb of Queen Esther in Hamedan. Her trip sparked outrage in Iran, with a special parliamentary commission launched to investigate her visit and many accusing her of espionage.

While the investigation determined that Azoulay was not a spy, Iranian lawmaker Mohammad Saleh Jokar said, “We are asking for a ban on Israeli-born people from entering Iran in order to prevent such cases.”

*

Israel ranks as 11th-happiest country in the world

(JNS.org) Israel was ranked the 11th-happiest country in the world in 2014, according to the annual World Happiness Report, released on Friday.

Among 158 countries surveyed, Israel beat out several Western countries such as the United States (15), Ireland (18), United Kingdom (21), Germany (26), and France (29). Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, and Canada were the top five countries.

The happiness scale was compiled using several factors, including GDP per capita, life expectancy, freedom of choice, generosity, perceptions of corruption, and social support. The report is published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, an initiative of the United Nations launched in 2012 that promotes sustainable development on local, national, and global scales.

Not surprisingly, most of Israel’s neighbors fared poorly in the rankings, including the Palestinian territories (108), Egypt (135), Jordan (85), and Lebanon (103).

*

Rivlin commemorates fallen soldiers of Australia, New Zealand on ANZAC Day

(JNS.org) Israeli President Reuven Rivlin commemorated the fallen soldiers of Australia and New Zealand during a ceremony on Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus for ANZAC Day, a day of remembrance in those two countries on the anniversary of the World War I Battle of Gallipoli.

“The bond between the state of Israel and Australia and New Zealand is historic and strong. This bond is based on the common values our nations share: the pioneering spirit, creativity, and faith,” Rivlin said, honoring the Australian and Kiwi soldiers who participated in the British efforts to defeat the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Though unsuccessful in their aim to capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople, those soldiers helped define the identities of their two nations. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the 1915 Battle of Gallipoli. At the time of the battle, the Ottomans controlled Israel.

*

Israel denies entry visa for communist South African cabinet minister

(JNS.org) Israel denied an entry visa to Blade Nzimande, South Africa’s minister of higher education and training, who was scheduled to visit Birzeit University in the West Bank.

A senior official in Jerusalem said the visa was rejected because Nzimande planned to directly travel to the West Bank, rather than visiting Israel, and also due to his radically anti-Israel views, Haaretz reported.

Nzimande is a member of the South African Communist Party and serves in the governing African National Congress coalition. He has supported an academic boycott of Israel and has called for the expulsion of Israel’s ambassador to South Africa. Nzimande said that by denying his visa, the Israelis were trying “to hide their atrocities against the Palestinian people.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the South African response to the visa rejection proved “that South Africa remains a country with serious problems of racism and violence.”

“That’s why it would behoove the South African government and the Communist Party to stop preaching morality and attacking Israel, which is a great democracy that is exceptionally coping with threats and terrorist elements while making maximal effort to preserve human rights and international norms of behavior,” Lieberman said.

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

__________________________________________________________________
Care to comment?  We require the following information on any letter for publication: 1) Your full name 2) Your city and state (or country) of residence. Letters lacking such information will be automatically deleted. San Diego Jewish World is intended as a forum for the entire Jewish community, whatever your political leanings. Letters may be posted below provided they are responsive to the article that prompted them, and civil in their tone.  Ad hominem attacks against any religion, country, gender, race, sexual orientation, or physical disability will not be considered for publication. There is a limit of one letter per writer on any given day.
__________________________________________________________________