Syracuse University suspends ties with Palestinian school, joining Brandeis
(JNS.org) Syracuse University became the second school in a week to suspend its relationship with the Palestinian Al-Quds University in Jerusalem following a Nazi-style rally at Al-Quds, The Jerusalem Post reported.
The school’s Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism halted ties with Al-Quds. “We are very disappointed and saddened to have learned of these recent events at Al-Quds University,” Kevin Quinn, Syracuse’s senior vice president for public affairs, told the Post in a report published Friday.
Brandeis University had suspended its Al-Quds partnership after a statement by Al-Quds on the rally that Brandeis considered “unacceptable and inflammatory.” The statement by Al-Quds President Sari Nusseibeh highlighted “vilification campaigns by Jewish extremists” against the university, rather than exclusively addressing the Nazi-style rally.
U.N. conference urges more attention for Jewish refugees from Arab countries
(JNS.org) NEW YORK—Jewish and Israeli leaders on Thursday urged greater attention for the plight of the 850,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries during a conference on the issue at the United Nations.
Israeli Minister of Energy and Water Silvan Shalom, whose father was once the leader of the Jewish community of Gabes, Tunisia, said, “Over the last 65 years, the U.N. and its agencies have spent tens of billions of dollars on Palestinian refugees, but not a cent on Jewish refugees.” Ron Prosor, Israeli ambassador to the U.N., noted that since 1947 there have been 687 U.N. resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including 101 that speak specifically of Palestinian refugees, but no resolutions on Jewish refugees.
Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, reiterated a recent statement by 42 groups on the fate of the Iraqi Jewish Archive, a collection of artifacts recovered from the basement of the Iraqi intelligence ministry and restored by the U.S. government that are currently on display in Washington, DC, but afterward are set to return to the Iraqi government despite the belief that Iraq stole them from the Jewish community.
“We urge our government not to send them back to an uncertain fate in Iraq, where hundreds of holy Torah scrolls remain in disuse and decay,” Hoenlein said.
Prosor told JNS.org regarding the Iraqi archive, “There were a lot of resources and assets put together in order to compile it the way it is, it was saved, and we don’t want it to be lost again.”
World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder praised the Canadian parliament’s recent recommendation that Canada officially recognize and encourage the need for justice for Jewish refugees from Arab countries as part of any resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
“We hope that all countries follow Canada’s lead,” Lauder said.
AIPAC applauds Harry Reid on tougher Iran sanctions bill despite Obama plea
(JNS.org) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said he will go ahead with proposing a bill calling for tougher Iran sanctions early next month, despite President Barack Obama’s request to delay new sanctions during negotiations.
“I will support a bill that would broaden the scope of our current petroleum sanctions, place limitations on trade with strategic sectors of the Iranian economy that support its nuclear ambitions, as well as pursue those who divert goods to Iran,” Reid said.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) praised the decision.
“This announcement, and the subsequent bill, is an important statement about the resolve of Senate Democrats and Republicans to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability,” AIPAC President Michael Kassen said in a statement.
The Obama administration had also lobbied major Jewish organizations for their support of a delay. But AIPAC, along with other Jewish groups, said the organization would continue to push for new sanctions.
Jewish-Swedish activist files for asylum over religious practice bans
(JNS.org) A Jewish-Swedish political activist has filed an asylum application in protest against Sweden’s growing laws banning Jewish religious practices.
In a letter she penned for Mosaic Magazine, Annika Hernroth-Rothstein describes how kosher slaughter has been outlawed in Sweden since 1937, and that a bill is currently pending in parliament seeking to ban even the import and serving of kosher meat. Ritual circumcision is also being legally threatened in Sweden.
“On November 9, the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, a few hundred neo-Nazis marched through Stockholm… Another few hundred leftists turned out in protest… waving Hamas flags and sporting Palestinian kefiyahs,” she wrote.
“I can only expect that my application will be summarily dismissed. But the situation is beyond absurdity, beyond op-eds and strongly worded letters of protest. The situation calls for action,” she added.
John Kerry continues to promote Iran deal despite rift with Israel
(JNS.org) Secretary of State John F. Kerry continues to promote the proposed deal with Iran to curb the country’s uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief despite strong objections from the Israeli government.
The rift between Israel and the U.S. on Iran’s nuclear program grew more apparent this week after Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman indicated in a speech that America’s “link with Israel, is waning.”
But Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin, who joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a meeting with the Russian government this week on the Iran nuclear program issue, told a Russian radio station that “even when there are disagreements over this issue or another… there is no one who can take the place of the Americans,” the Jerusalem Post reported.
Kerry, in turn, said he still believes the proposed agreement with Iran has “the best chance we’ve had in a decade… to halt progress and roll back Iran’s program,” according to the Washington Post. Just a day earlier, Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei referred to Israel as the “rabid dog” of the Middle East.
Pope Francis says he cannot imagine a Middle East ‘without Christians’
(JNS.org) Pope Francis said he could not imagine a Middle East devoid of Christians.
“We will not resign ourselves to imagining a Middle East without Christians,” Pope Francis told a group of Christian leaders from Syria, Iraq, and Egypt, Vatican Radio reported.
The Middle East is facing a tremendous decline in its indigenous Christian populations amid regional upheaval related to the “Arab Spring” and the rise of Islamic extremism. According to the Pew Research Center, just 0.6 percent of the world’s 2.2 billion Christians now live in the Middle East and North Africa. Christians make up only 4 percent of the region’s total inhabitants, drastically down from 20 percent a century ago.
Pope Francis also said he will not rest “so long as there are men and women, of any religion, affected in their dignity, deprived of life’s basic necessities, robbed of a future, forced to the status of refugees and displaced persons.”
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