ZOA’s Klein says Jewish leaders called him to stop opposing Hagel
(JNS.org) American Jewish leaders have pressed the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) to stop publicly opposing the nomination of Chuck Hagel for defense secretary because making that a “Jewish issue” is “bad for the Jews,” the Jerusalem Post reported.
“I was called by major Jewish leaders, personally called, and [they] told me to stop our campaign against Hagel,” ZOA President Mort Klein told the Post.
ZOA was “the only major Jewish group to publicly oppose Hagel and [John O.] Brennan [for CIA head]” besides the Republican Jewish Coalition, according to Klein, who explained that such was the case because Jewish organizations are “frightened of making an issue seem more important to Jews than others.”
Klein said on Tuesday that “AJC, AIPAC, ADL [and] the Conference of Presidents never came out and said we oppose this man [Hagel] because he is horrible on Iran, he is horrible on terrorism, horrible on Israel, horrible on fighting radical Islam.”
Hagel chairs the Atlantic Council think tank, which in December published a column titled “Israel’s Apartheid Policy” as well as a policy paper predicting that Iran “should be viewed as a potential natural partner” for the U.S. He did not sign various pro-Israel letters backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) while he served in the Senate, but did sign a 2009 letter asking Obama to directly negotiate with Hamas. But in his Senate confirmation hearing, Hagel said “No one individual vote, no one individual quote or no one individual statement defines me, my beliefs, or my record.”
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Israel’s population to rise to 10 million in a decade
(JNS.org) More than 8 million people now reside in Israel, according to the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics. By 2025, the number of residents is expected to rise to 10 million.
In 2012 alone, Israel’s population grew by 145,000 people, and 160,000 people were born. More than 20,000 new immigrants arrived in Israel, Israel National News reported.
More than 75 percent of the country’s residents are Jews, or 6 million, the same number as the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust. About 20 percent are Israeli Arabs, and 4.2 percent are non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
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Famed singer Boone visits Yad Vashem, will sell Israeli land to Christian Zionists
(JNS.org) Pat Boone, an American entertainer and evangelical Christian, is visiting Israel with a delegation led by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.
As part of his visit, Boone attended a ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem on Wednesday to present the managing director of the museum’s International Relations Division a Christmas card with the lyrics to “This Land Is Mine.”
Boone, who was a hugely successful singer in the 1950s, wrote the lyrics to the song, a melody originally featured in the soundtrack of the 1960 film Exodus with Paul Newman. The film was based on a novel by U.S. author Leon Uris about the founding of the state of Israel.
The 78-year-old has also recently revealed plans to sell land in the Galilee to American Christian Zionists, and told the Jerusalem Post that although he was raised Christian, he has developed a connection with the Jewish people.
“I think that this is a sure way for Christians by the millions, evangelicals, who do believe God’s promises—that God has brought the people of Israel back, never to be removed again—to make a commitment. That’s what we’re doing and are urging others to do,” he said.
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Israeli pharmaceutical company on verge of major diabetes breakthrough
(JNS.org) Israel’s Oramed Pharmaceuticals is on the brink of developing a new oral insulin pill that could revolutionize Type 2 diabetes treatment, Israel21c reported.
The pill, which would replace the current method of self-injecting insulin, mimics the natural way insulin is ingested into the body through the mouth. It could help an estimated 371 million people worldwide who are affected by Type 2 diabetes.
Oramed was founded in 2006 by Dr. Miram Kidron, based on her 25 years of research on diabetes at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Media Center. Her son Nadav Kidron is the president and CEO of the company. The insulin pill is designed to target adult diabetics who are not yet insulin dependent, according to Globes.
“We wanted to do more than just replace injections — we wanted to provide an alternative oral medication as an earlier treatment that can extend the second phase [of diabetes progression] and prevent patients from becoming insulin dependent,” Kidron told Israel21c. “That’s the revolution.”
Phase 2 clinical trials are scheduled to begin in the United States.
Oramed also has other diabetes medications in the pipeline, including one that will help balance blood sugar and control appetite—since many people with Type 2 diabetes are overweight.
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Modern Orthodox rabbi seeks to change Israeli rabbinate
(JNS.org) Amid the surprising Israeli election results that empowered political parties calling for a change to the ultra-Orthodox’s grip on Jewish life, a reform-minded modern Orthodox rabbi has launched a campaign to become the next Ashkenazi chief rabbi, the Associated Press reported.
Rabbi David Stav, a 52-year-old father of nine and chairman of the Tzohar organization, a group of moderate Orthodox rabbis, has launched an aggressive and highly visible campaign utilizing TV and newspaper interviews as well as social media to spread his message. He believes the current rabbinate, which is controlled by Israel’s ultra-Orthodox, alienates Israel’s secular majority.
“It’s not about public relations and niceness,” Stav told the Associated Press. “There is a critical problem—it’s not cosmetic—in the rabbinic system. It needs dramatic changes.”
Israel’s current Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, Yona Metzger, will be vacating his post in the upcoming months. A panel of 150 rabbis and politicians will appoint the next chief rabbi. With the election success of the centrist Yesh Atid and national religious HaBayit HaYehudi—who both call for reforms to Israel’s rabbinate—Stav may get the necessary political support.
Stav’s candidacy also comes at a time when tensions between Israel’s ultra-Orthodox religious establishment and the more liberal American Jewry are increasing.
“I think Rabbi Stav is trying to be more inclusive, more compassionate and more sensitive to Jews of all backgrounds and make the rabbinate in Israel more user-friendly and more approachable,” said Rabbi Moshe Scheiner after Stav spoke at the modern Orthodox Palm Beach Synagogue last month, the Palm Beach Daily News reported.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org