Israel may nix funding for theater over Arab actor’s Jordan Valley boycott
(JNS.org) Israeli Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev issued a strong rebuke of Arab-Israeli actor Norman Issa on Tuesday after Israel Hayom reported that he was unwilling to join his fellow cast members in the play Boomerang when they perform in the Jordan Valley.
Issa cited his objection to Israel’s presence in the area, which came under Israeli control following the 1967 Six-Day War. In response, Regev threatened to cut off state funding for the Jaffa-based Elmina Theater, which Issa runs.
“I was disappointed to learn of Issa’s decision not to appear in the upcoming production of Boomerang in the Jordan Valley under the auspices of the Haifa Theater,” Regev wrote on Facebook. “Issa’s comments appear divorced from his philosophy of coexistence, which he has touted time and again. If Issa refuses to retract his statements, I plan to reassess my ministry’s support for Elmina Theater, which he operates.”
On Tuesday, Israel Hayom reported that Boomerang was originally set to play in a Jordan Valley venue on June 18, but that the plan was shelved because of Issa’s protest. Regev said she planned to summon the actor to her office as part of the disciplinary action.
“Elmina and the principles of coexistence it espouses are important; I consider coexistence to be important. I am in favor of a wide spectrum of views as part of this coexistence. Similarly, someone who talks the talk on coexistence must also walk the walk,” she said.
Issa said no one could force him to appear against his will.
“As an Israeli Arab, would you expect me to appear in a disputed venue, against my conscience?” he wrote on Facebook. “My decision is not unheard of—it has been successfully dealt with in the past. Many years ago, Israeli theaters agreed on a formula: productions will appear everywhere, but actors, Jewish and Arab alike, would be replaced by a stand-in if they refused to perform for conscientious reasons.”
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Israel’s Technion gets Gates Foundation grant for tuberculosis breakthrough
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Haifa-based Technion – Israel Institute of Technology has been awarded a grant for a tuberculosis detection breakthrough as part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Exploration program.
The foundation has committed $100 million to encourage scientists worldwide to expand the pipeline of ideas to fight the world’s greatest health challenges through the Grand Challenges Explorations program, which was launched in 2008 to foster innovation in global health research. More than 1,140 Grand Challenge Explorations grants have been awarded to innovative, early-stage projects in more than 60 countries.
The Technion grant, whose specific amount was not announced, will go to Professor Hossam Haick of the Chemical Engineering Department and Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, who is developing cutting-edge biomedical technology, including a self-administered electronic patch for the detection of tuberculosis via skin.
“With the help of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, we are developing an accurate, fast and inexpensive adhesive electronic patch that can diagnose tuberculosis. In this way we wish to increase the survival rate among tuberculosis sufferers and to stave off the spread of the disease. We hope that these steps will improve the democratization and accessibility of health services around the world,” Haick said.
More than 2 billion people around the world are estimated to have tuberculosis, and 10 percent of them experience active symptoms in their lifetimes. Some 95 percent of tuberculosis sufferers live in developing countries where inhabitants subsist on incomes of $1 per day.
The goal of Haick’s project is to develop a self-administered diagnostic method based on the adhesive patch. The diagnosis, which uses a skin sample, would take up to five minutes, and it would be less expensive and more accessible than the current diagnostic tools.
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High levels of frustration found among Gazans, survey finds
(JNS.org) A new survey conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey has found high levels of frustrations among Gazans, including rising levels of dissatisfaction with Hamas and the outcome of that terrorist group’s war with Israel last summer.
The poll’s main findings reveal “a high level of frustration among Gazans, with half of the respondents stating that they are considering emigration from the Gaza Strip.”
Additionally, the survey found a decline in satisfaction with the “achievements of the latest Gaza war,” with only 47 percent of respondents saying that Gaza-ruling Hamas came out a winner, down from 69 percent shortly after the war.
“There’s a very high level of frustration we are seeing in Gaza, more than at any other time in the past year,” said Khalil Shikaki, director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey.
Despite the dissatisfaction, a majority of Palestinians—63 percent—still support the launching of rockets from Gaza at Israel if the blockade on the coastal enclave is not lifted.
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City of David visitor’s center approved by Israeli national building committee
(JNS.org) Israel’s National Planning and Building Committee has approved the construction of Jerusalem’s City of David’s “Kedem” visitor’s center, which will serve as a focal point for tourists to explore the archaeological excavations at the City of David.
“There is great importance in having a visitor’s center built specifically on the site of the Givati Parking Lot excavation… Establishing a visitor’s center on this venue, without a doubt, will generate a high level of activity that compliments the historic and archeological significance of the area,” the committee said.
In its decision, the committee rejected many of the claims made by opponents of the Kedem Center project, mainly European-funded NGOs such as Ir Amin and Emek Shaveh, who have objected to its location in the mainly Arab eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. The project’s critics have also argued that the structure will adversely affect the skyline of Jerusalem’s Old City.
According to the City of David, the building was designed by Arieh Rahaminmoff, the former chairman of UNESCO in Israel, and will sit on top of the “Givati Parking Lot” excavation just outside of the Old City’s walls. The visitor’s center will serve as an entryway to the Jerusalem Walls National Park, which includes the City of David and Mount Zion, as well as to the Old City’s Ophel and Hulda Gates.
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102-year-old German doctor defends thesis 80 years after Nazis deny her
(JNS.org) Eighty years after the Nazis denied Ingeborg Syllm-Rapoport the chance to defend her doctoral thesis because she was Jewish, she became the oldest doctoral recipient in Germany at the age of 102 on Tuesday.
Syllm-Rapoport, whose mother was Jewish and father was Protestant, is a well-known neonatologist in Germany. Prior to finally defending her doctoral degree in Germany, Syllm-Rapoport completed her degree in Philadelphia after moving to the U.S. in 1938. In 1952, she and her husband moved back to East Berlin, where she became the first head of the neonatology department at Berlin’s Charite hospital.
On Tuesday, she received her belated German degree following her thesis defense in a ceremony at the University of Hamburg.
“After almost 80 years, it was possible to restore some extent of justice,” said Burkhard Goeke, the medical director of the university’s hospital, the Associated Press reported. “We cannot undo injustices that have been committed, but our insights into the past shape our perspective for the future.”
“For me personally, the degree didn’t mean anything, but to support the great goal of coming to terms with history—I wanted to be part of that,” Syllm-Rapoport told the German public television station NDR.
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Two Jewish day schools receive $50,000 innovation grants
(JNS.org) Two Jewish day schools have been awarded $50,000 apiece by the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge (JEIC). The schools were two of five finalists among 62 applicants who had presented proposals at JEIC’s annual “Innovators Retreat” in Bal Harbour, Fla.
JEIC is an initiative working to “disrupt complacency and encourage innovation in Jewish day school education.”
“By rewarding and collaborating with talented innovators, JEIC seeks to improve the way Jewish values, literacy, practice, and beliefs are transferred to the next generation,” said JEIC Managing Director Rabbi Shmuel Feld.
One of the winners is the Bi-Cultural Day School in Stamford, Conn., for its “Masora Program,” which offers interactive lessons relevant to students’ lives and focuses Judaic studies on major ideas relating to Jewish identity, experience, and education.
The other winning program is “Tefilla Reimagined,” from the Manhattan Day School in New York City. The program teaches students to view prayer as a psychological and personal journey in order to connect with God as well as to appreciate prayer’s meaning and power. Each participating student receives a “Personal Digital Siddur.”
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Articles from JNS.org appear on San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman.
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