Philanthropist Lauder earns France’s highest honor
(JNS.org) France on Wednesday awarded Jewish philanthropist and media mogul Ronald Lauder with its government’s highest honor.
Lauder—president of the World Jewish Congress, owner of Israel’s Channel 10 television station, and son of cosmetics giant Estée Lauder—received the Legion of Honor from President François Hollande.
“With you, France honors a man of peace, of culture and of commitment. The cause you serve is to preserve the memory in order to build the future,” Hollande said, praising Lauder as both a “businessman who has developed with talent an enterprise that is today a world leader” at Estée Lauder as well as the owner of “the most beautiful modern art collection ever assembled by an individual.”
As of September 2012, Forbes estimated Lauder’s net worth at $3.4 billion.
Napoleon Bonaparte established the Legion of Honor in 1802 as a way for France to reward civilians and soldiers on the basis of merit, rather than the pre-French Revolution system of nobility.
Pakistani group calls any perceived enemy ‘Zionist’
(JNS.org) The Pakistan Cyber Force (PCF), a nationalist group from Pakistan whose Facebook page that was initially shut down, is back in full force promoting anti-Semitism. Some of the group’s posts describe the U.S. as the “United States of Zionism” (USZ).
PCF re-launched its Facebook page in November 2012. “The way Zionists have occupied Palestine and are committing genocide of Muslims through terrorism, one can understand by watching them as to why Hitler had them killed. The world would not have seen this day if Hitler had not spared the Zionists,” a post from that month states, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported Feb. 6.
MEMRI explained, “the organization does not differentiate among Jews, Zionism, Israel, the U.S., or India, all of which it sees as threats to Pakistan and to the cause of Islamist forces.”
According to one post, any Pakistani nationals who are deemed to operate against Pakistan’s national interest are classified as Zionists. “Every Zionist in the East and the West, and within Pakistan, is hell-bent on attacking and weakening the Pakistan Army,” that post states. PCF even calls its own country’s popular GEO television channel the “Zionist channel” and “Jew TV.”
U.S. gives IDF chief Legion of Merit award
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The United States gave Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz the Legion of Merit award on Tuesday. Gantz is currently in the U.S. on a five-day work visit.
Gantz was awarded the Legion of Merit by U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, on behalf of U.S. President Barack Obama. The Legion of Merit is granted for achievements and meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding actions.
A letter signed by Dempsey and U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said that the award was given to Gantz in recognition of his outstanding and noteworthy command of the IDF.
Panetta praised Gantz’s command, saying that it ensures that the IDF will be able to stand strong in the face of a wide range of threats.
Gantz thanked his American hosts for the award, saying that he accepted it on behalf of all IDF soldiers and commanders and that it represented the strong relationship between the American and Israeli militaries.
Christian leaders gather in LA to learn about Judaism
(JNS.org) Prominent Christian leaders from across the denominational spectrum are gathering in Los Angeles from Feb. 8-10 for the inaugural Christian Leadership Initiative (CLI) Alumni Study Retreat.
The CLI was launched in 2008 as a partnership between the Shalom Hartman Institute (SHI) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) with the goal of providing Christian leaders the opportunity to gain a more profound understanding of Judaism and the Jewish people, according to its website.
“CLI gathers a unique core group of Christian scholars and introduces them to classical Jewish text study in the context of modern Israel,” Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC’s director of interreligious and intergroup relations, said in a statement.
The Alumni Study Retreat is covering advanced topics, including themes of God, ethics and community in Judaism. It is also introducing a new curriculum on Israel called “New Paths: Christians Engaging Israel.” More than 28 Christian leaders were expected to attend.
“The Alumni Study Retreat is another step toward realizing our dream of a multi-cohort CLI community that will have an indelible positive impact on Christian-Jewish relations,” Marans added.
Israel closes Haifa Airport amid tensions in the north
(JNS.org) The Israel Defense Forces has ordered the closure of Haifa Airport amid growing tensions with Syria and Hezbollah.
The closure may be related to “mock raids” the Israeli air force has been conducting over Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Information.
But the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit told Israel Hayom that the “security needs relating to the air space in the area have been addressed.”
Furthermore, the IDF has placed a third Iron Dome battery in northern Israel. This comes a week after Israel’s reported strike on a Syrian military base near the Lebanese border.
According to McClatchy News, Israeli aircraft destroyed a Syrian military convoy carrying advanced Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles preparing to leave the Jamarya military base, possibly to be delivered to Hezbollah.
According to the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Hezbollah has an arsenal of 40,000 to 50,000 short and long-range missiles that can easily reach Tel Aviv.
Israeli legislators urge Obama to speak at the Knesset
(JNS.org) Members of the Knesset are urging President Barack Obama to speak at Israel’s legislature when he visits the Jewish state this spring.
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) on Wednesday said in a statement that if Obama “wants to talk directly with the people in Israel, the only platform for that is the Knesset.”
“All the world leaders who have come to Israel, including past U.S. presidents and former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, visited the Knesset because they knew this is the people’s elected chamber and it is from there that Israel draws its strength as a state and as a democracy,” Rivlin said.
“The Knesset, as a venue for debates and decision making is the only place where diplomatic initiatives and other consequential programs should be presented; even in the case of heads of states that are considered friends, plans should be presented in the Knesset,” he added, stating that if Obama does appear at the Knesset, its members “would respect the occasion.”
MK Binyamin (Fouad) Ben-Eliezer of the Labor party echoed Rivlin’s sentiment.
“The nation of Israel definitely thirsts to hear the United States president speak to them directly,” Ben-Eliezer said, Israel National News reported. “There is no more appropriate venue than the Knesset for the U.S. president to speak.”
White House officials on Tuesday announced Obama’s plans to visit Israel for the first time during his presidency. Obama was previously in Israel as a presidential candidate in 2008.
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