Danny Glover, others in ‘American Revolutionary’ call for boycott of Israel
(JNS.org) Actor Danny Glover and others featured in “American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs” lamented the documentary film’s screening at the DocAviv festival in Tel Aviv, and called for a boycott of Israel.
“We stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine, and support their call for cultural and academic boycott of Israel,” 12 signatories said in a statement.
The signatories, including Grace Lee Boggs herself, said they were “shocked” about the film’s screening at DocAviv on May 13 and 15, which was “scheduled without our knowledge.”
“We immediately took action to have the film withdrawn from the festival,” they said. “The festival organizers and film producers informed us that this was not possible and they would move forward with the screening, over our objections.”
Glover had already supported a boycott of Israel in 2009.
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ADL: More than 1 billion people worldwide ‘deeply infected’ with anti-Semitism
(JNS.org) More than 1 billion people worldwide are “deeply infected” with anti-Semitic views, according to a new global survey by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
The “ADL Global 100: An Index of Anti-Semitism” survey polled 53,100 adults in 102 countries and found that more than one-in-four adults—26 percent of those surveyed, or 1.09 billion people—answered “probably true” to six or more of 11 negative stereotypes about Jews, including questions about Jewish power, dual loyalty, money, and behavior, the ADL said.
The Middle East checked in with the highest concentrations of anti-Semitism, with nearly three-quarters of respondents holding anti-Semitic attitudes. In the West Bank and Gaza, 93 percent of respondents held anti-Semitic views, with Jordan and Morocco, two relatively moderate Arab countries, rounding out the top 10 countries at 81 and 80 percent, respectively.
Countries in Scandinavia and Southeast Asia had the lowest scores of anti-Semitism, including Laos at 0.2 percent, the Philippines at 3 percent, Sweden at 4 percent, the Netherlands at 5 percent, and Vietnam at 6 percent. The United Kingdom and United States followed closely at 8 percent and 9 percent, respectively.
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Pope Francis’s Western Wall visit reworked to accommodate Jewish prayers
(JNS.org) A compromise on the timing of Pope Francis’s planned visit to the Western Wall on May 26 appears to have been reached. The pope was originally scheduled to visit the holy site at 8 a.m. on a Monday. But controversy arose when some Jewish officials said the early visit would disturb Jews during their morning prayers.
A senior Western Wall official had told Israel Hayom that sunrise prayers, which have been held for the past four decades, could not be canceled due to the pope’s scheduled visit. The official also noted that around 100 families had already registered to hold bar mitzvah ceremonies on the morning of the pope’s visit, and that 50 more were expected to do so.
Recent discussions between Israeli officials and the Vatican’s ambassador to Israel resulted in a proposal to delay the pontiff’s visit by an hour and close off the Western Wall plaza only after the Jewish morning prayers are concluded. According to the proposal, prayers will continue inside the hall throughout the event. Bar mitzvah ceremonies scheduled for the same morning will take place after the pope leaves the site.
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Abbas and Kerry to meet in London
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is set to meet U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in London on Wednesday.
Abbas is believed to be meeting Kerry to discuss the possibility of restarting peace talks with Israel. But U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, “While the door remains open to a peace process, the purpose of the meeting is to discuss our ongoing relationship with the Palestinians.”
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Liberal Jews criticize NYC mayor for AIPAC speech
(JNS.org) New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s January appearance before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has garnered harsh behind-the-scenes criticism from his liberal Jewish supporters, newly revealed emails show.
“I am actually getting as many angry messages from Jewish non-AIPAC folks (Pro Israel, J Street and Peace Now Supporters) than I did on the east side snow problems,” State Senator Liz Krueger wrote to de Blasio’s senior aide Emma Wolfe on Jan. 30, the New York Daily News reported Monday, citing one of the emails it obtained.
In his private speech before AIPAC, which was not listed on his official schedule, de Blasio said that New York City Hall “will always be open to AIPAC,” and that he will always “happily” answer a call by the pro-Israel lobby.
Jonathan Tobin, senior online editor of Commentary magazine, questioned those who lashed out at de Blasio for the AIPAC appearance.
“It’s fascinating that the political left in New York is so obsessed with its opposition to Israel that they are keeping this story alive and actually holding a grudge against a politician who is otherwise very much to their liking,” Tobin told JNS.org.
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Fake Holocaust memoir’s author ordered to pay publisher $22.5 million
(JNS.org) The author of a Holocaust memoir now proven to be fake was ordered to pay back $22.5 million to the publisher from whom she had won a judgment.
Twenty years ago, Misha Defonseca penned “Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years,” which detailed how her parents were deported by Nazis when she was 6 years old, as well as her subsequent journey across Belgium, Germany, and Poland to find them. The book described how she survived by clinging to a pack of wolves.
Defonseca and her ghostwriter in 1998 won $32.4 million in a lawsuit against U.S. publisher Mt. Ivy Press, which allegedly hid profits from book sales. Subsequently, as part of the appeal of that verdict, documents were discovered revealing that during the time Defonseca claimed to be living with wolves, she was actually “enrolled in a Brussels school in 1943,” reported Courthouse News. Moreover, Defonseca’s original name was Monique De Wael, and she is not Jewish. The author, now a Massachusetts resident, eventually admitted her story was fabricated.
Judge Marc Kantrowitz ruled April 29 that Defonseca must pay back her publisher for the money she was awarded in the 1998 lawsuit.
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University of New Mexico graduate students rescind Israel divestment measure
(JNS.org) The University of New Mexico (UNM) Graduate & Professional Student Association on Saturday rescinded an Israel divestment resolution that it had passed last month.
The initial vote on the measure on April 28 had taken place without the knowledge or presence of any members of the UNM pro-Israel community, according to the Israel education organization StandWithUs. Members of the student group Lobos for Israel and UNM’s Hillel affiliate worked to bring about the reversal of the decision.
In early April, an Israel divestment resolution was defeated in a 12-7 vote in UNM’s undergraduate student government.
UNM’s chapter of the anti-Israel group Students for Justice in Palestine vowed in a Facebook post on Saturday that it would “make sure to continue our divestment initiative in the coming semester.”
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EU urges Israelis and Palestinians to restart peace talks
(JNS.org) The European Union urged Israelis and Palestinians to restart peace talks.
“The EU urges the parties to use the coming weeks to find the common ground and political strength needed to resume this process and to make the necessary bold decisions,” said an EU statement issued Monday at a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels.
The EU also warned Israel about construction in the West Bank.
“The EU calls on all sides to exercise maximum restraint and to avoid any unilateral action which may further undermine peace efforts and the viability of a two-state-solution, such as continued settlement expansion,” the statement said.
On the unity talks between Fatah and Hamas, the EU welcomed reconciliation between the two Palestinian factions, saying it has “consistently supported intra-Palestinian reconciliation on clear and certain terms.”
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Iran boasts that it has ‘won’ in Syrian civil war
(JNS.org) Senior Iranian officials are claiming that Iran and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have defeated the U.S.-led campaign to topple the Syrian dictator.
“We have won in Syria,” Alaeddin Borujerdi, chairman of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, told The Guardian. “The regime will stay. The Americans have lost it.”
At least 150,000 people have been killed during Syria’s three-year-old civil war, which has become increasingly sectarian with an opposition becoming dominated by al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist groups. On the other side, Iran and its proxy Hezbollah have provided fighters, supplies, and political cover to the Assad regime.
Another senior Iranian official—government strategist and adviser Amir Mohebbian—told The Guardian, “We won the game in Syria easily. The U.S. does not understand Syria. The Americans wanted to replace Assad, but what was the alternative? All they have done is encourage radical groups and made the borders less safe.”
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French immigration to Israel quadruples in first quarter of 2014
(JNS.org) New figures released by the Jewish Agency for Israel on Monday show that French immigration to Israel has quadrupled in the first quarter of 2014.
According to the Jewish Agency, 1,407 people left France for Israel from January through March, up from 353 people during the same period in 2013.
“This phenomenon is speeding up,” said Ariel Kandel, head of the Jewish Agency’s French chapter, AFP reported.
Kandel said anti-Semitism and the tough economic situation in France are driving the increase in emigration.
Similarly, immigration to Israel from Ukraine, a country ravaged by political instability and fear of growing anti-Semitism, have risen nearly 142 percent in 2014 over 2013 numbers.
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