Omri Casspi bringing delegation of NBA players to Israel
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) National Basketball Association (NBA) player Omri Casspi will visit Israel this week, but it will be no ordinary homecoming for the Sacramento Kings forward, as he will be joined by seven other NBA players in a tour organized by a foundation Casspi has formed that seeks to fight anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
Visiting with Casspi are his Sacramento Kings teammates DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay, and Caron Butler, as well as Chandler Parsons of the Dallas Mavericks, Iman Shumpert of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Tyreke Evans of the New Orleans Pelicans, and Alan Anderson of the Washington Wizards.
NBA Player Relations Director Roger Mason, who played with Israel’s Hapoel Jerusalem franchise during the 2005-06 season, will join the players, as will Nick U’Ren, special assistant to the Golden State Warriors’ head coach. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has given the initiative his personal blessing.
During their visit, they players will be the guests of two major events, the first hosted by Hapoel Jerusalem and the second by Maccabi Tel Aviv, scheduled for Sunday and Wednesday, respectively. The players will also tour Israel and attend several charity events organized by NBA Cares, the league’s global community outreach initiative.
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Israel Hayom expands lead as Israel’s most-read newspaper, survey says
(JNS.org) Israel Hayom is the most-read newspaper in Israel on weekdays and has increased its lead over Yedioth Ahronoth, according to a Target Group Index report published Wednesday that reviewed media consumption in the first half of 2015.
The report, which analyzed the Israeli public’s exposure to newspapers and radio networks, found that 40.8 percent of the public read Israel Hayom on a regular basis on weekdays in the first half of 2015, up from 38.9 percent in the second half of 2014. Meanwhile, Yedioth’s weekday exposure rate for the first half of 2015 was 35.5 percent—giving Israel Hayom a 5.3-percent lead over its main competitor.
The weekday exposure rates for other daily newspapers in Israel in the first half of 2015 were: the Jerusalem Post at 7.7 percent, Haaretz at 4.6 percent, Globes at 4.3 percent, and Maariv-Hashavua at 4.2 percent. Haaretz’s weekday exposure rate was an all-time low for the newspaper.
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46% of Israelis concerned about disunity, says survey in memory of slain teens
(JNS.org) Gesher, an organization dedicated to creating programs unifying different communities in Israel under one identity, has released a new survey measuring attitudes about unity in the Jewish state.
The “Israel Unity Index” was commissioned as part of the inaugural Jerusalem Unity Prize, which was recently awarded in memory of Jewish teenagers Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar, and Naftali Frenkel, who were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas terrorists during the summer of 2014. The annual prize’s stated mission is “to perpetuate the spirit of unity which existed across Israel and around the world during the days following the boys’ kidnapping.”
The survey—conducted by the Zofnat Research Institute—gathered data from 511 Israelis over the phone and online, and was made possible with the support of the UJA Federation of New York. Forty-six percent of respondents agreed that “disunity” is a significant social problem that they think about frequently. There survey also illustrated a relationship between concerns over disunity and the level of respondents’ religious observance. Fifty-three percent of secular and traditional Jewish respondents expressed concern about disunity in Israeli society, compared with 40 percent of “religious” survey participants or 27 percent of haredi respondents.
Eighty-one percent of respondents agreed with the statement, “I fully respect Jews from all aspects of society, even when I don’t agree with them.” Among that group, 78 percent expressed support for national education programs that would allow the religious and secular elements of Israeli society to intermingle. Additionally, the survey revealed that 53 percent of haredim have little-to-no interaction with members of other Israeli communities.
“This index is an important indicator that we have a great deal to accomplish in building a better society but that there is also considerable cause for optimism. Most fundamentally it reveals that there is a high level of misunderstanding of the other and if overcome then we can enhance unity within our society,” Ilan Gael Dor, the executive director of Gesher, said in a statement.
“The tragedy of the three boys revealed that even while our society is often viewed as fractured and in need of repair—a reality corroborated by this study—solutions do exist to address this problem,” said Uri Yifrach, father of the murdered teen Eyal. “The challenge, and one which we can and must confront, is to implement those solutions in all times and not just when we’re being faced with tragedy or attacks.”
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White House’s @TheIranDeal handle gets Twitter backlash
(JNS.org) The White House is getting backlash over its opening of a new Twitter account dedicated to the recently reached nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
Using the handle @TheIranDeal, U.S. government staffers say they are answering the public’s questions about the deal and are promising to “set the record straight.”
“It will distribute facts, engage online audiences, and be used as a forum by those involved in negotiating the agreement,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said aboard Air Force One on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.
Opponents of the deal, in particular 2016 Republican presidential candidates, have responded vociferously to the new handle on Twitter. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tweeted “*BLOCK*” after re-tweeting a post about the handle. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal wrote, “.@TheIranDeal, why did you make a deal with United Nations before the US Congress? Shows us where your priorities are.”
U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) tweeted, “Hey @TheIranDeal, 176 House members and counting are ready to vote you down. #yourmove.”
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Award-winning American Jewish author E.L. Doctorow dies at 84
(JNS.org) Award-winning American Jewish author E.L. Doctorow died Tuesday at age 84 due to complications from lung cancer, his son Richard Doctorow told the New York Times.
Doctorow wrote a dozen novels, three volumes of short fiction, and one stage drama. His most well-known written works were fictional historical novels such as Ragtime, Billy Bathgate, and The March. He also wrote essays and commentary on literature and politics.
“The distinguished characteristic of E. L. Doctorow’s work is its double vision. In each of his books he experiments with the forms of fiction, working for effects that others haven’t already achieved; in each he develops a tone, a structure and a texture that he hasn’t used before. At the same time, he’s a deeply traditional writer, reworking American history, American literary archetypes, even exhausted subliterary genres. It’s an astonishing performance, really,” wrote literary critic Peter S. Prescott in Newsweek in 1984.
On Twitter, President Barack Obama called Doctorow “one of America’s greatest novelists.”
“His books taught me much, and he will be missed,” Obama said, citing Ragtime as his favorite Doctorow novel.
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U.S. Defense Secretary Carter meets with Saudi king amid tension over Iran
(JNS.org) U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter met with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Wednesday against the backdrop of that nation’s fears over the American-brokered Iran nuclear deal.
In the meeting, Carter conveyed the greetings of President Barack Obama, “reviewed relations between the Kingdom and United States,” and “stressed the United States of America’s keenness on enhancing peace and stability in the region,” according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The meeting was also attended by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif, the Saudis’ deputy premier and interior minister, as well as Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, the defense minister and second-in-line to the Saudi throne, Al-Arabiyareported.
Carter is on a regional tour of the Middle East as part of an effort to reassure allies over the nuclear deal with Iran. While not as vocal as Israel on the issue, Saudi Arabia has also been a strong opponent of the nuclear agreement and fears that Iran will use the deal’s sanctions relief to finance further instability and terrorism in the Middle East.
On Tuesday, Carter met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The prime minister made it quite clear that he disagreed with us with respect to the nuclear deal in Iran,” Carter said in Jordan regarding the meeting with Netanyahu.
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New U.S. Treasury Department sanctions to target senior Hezbollah leaders
(JNS.org) The United States Treasury Department has announced new sanctions against three senior Hezbollah leaders.
The sanctions are directed at Mustafa Badr Al Din, Ibrahim Aqil, and Fu’ad Shukr, for their role in supporting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“The United States will continue to aggressively target [Hezbollah] for its terrorist activities worldwide as well as its ongoing support to [Syrian President Bashar] Assad’s ruthless military campaign in Syria,” said Adam Szubin, the Treasury Department’s acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Reuters reported.
Backed by Iran, Hezbollah has been a key ally for the Syrian government in its fight against rebel groups during that country’s ongoing civil war. While the Lebanese terror group has sustained high causalities in the fighting, many have credited it with helping the Syrian government stay afloat amid growing threats from opposing forces like Islamic State and the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front.
The American sanctions also come in the aftermath of the recent Iran nuclear deal. Critics have argued that through billions of dollars in sanctions relief, the deal will embolden Iran and strengthen its proxies, including Hezbollah and the Syrian government. But President Barack Obama has said the deal will make it easier for the U.S. to “check Iran’s nefarious activities.”
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Canada plans to expand free trade agreement with Israel
(JNS.org) Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Tuesday announced plans for an expanded and modernized free trade agreement with Israel.
According to the announcement, the updated Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA) will provide “expanded market access opportunities for agricultural, fish and seafood products through the reduction or elimination of Israeli tariffs on a large number of products, and duty-free access under tariff rate quotas for certain products.”
The Canadian government sees Israel as an opportunity for Canadian businesses in areas such as defense, information and communications technology, life science, sustainable technologies, agriculture and agri-food, and fish and seafood.
Since CIFTA was enacted in 1997, Canadian trade with Israel has tripled—to $1.6 billion in 2014. Under Harper’s leadership, Canada has been an outspoken supporter of Israel in international bodies such as the United Nations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in June that Israelis believe the Jewish state has “no better friend than Canada.”
“Israel is a priority market for Canada and holds great potential for Canadian companies in a variety of sectors,” Harper said Tuesday. “An expanded and modernized free trade agreement will lead to a strengthened bilateral relationship as well as an increase in jobs and opportunities for Canadians and Israelis alike.”
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