Scarlett Johansson ends role as Oxfam ambassador over differences on BDS
(JNS.org) Jewish-American actress Scarlett Johansson is stepping down as a global ambassador for the human rights group Oxfam International, which had criticized her for serving as pitch woman for Israeli carbonated beverage company SodaStream. Johansson’s decision comes ahead of the airing of her SodaStream commercial on Super Bowl Sunday.
“Scarlett Johansson has respectfully decided to end her ambassador role with Oxfam after eight years,” said a statement released Wednesday by Johansson’s spokesman. “She and Oxfam have a fundamental difference of opinion in regards to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. She is very proud of her accomplishments and fundraising efforts during her tenure with Oxfam.”
Oxfam International took issue with Johansson’s SodaStream deal due to its opposition to “all trade from Israeli settlements.” SodaStream has long been the target of pro-Palestinian groups for operating a factory in Ma’ale Adumim, which is across the Green Line east of Jerusalem. But at the factory, SodaStream employs many Palestinian workers and has an on-site mosque.
“I remain a supporter of economic cooperation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine,” Johansson said last week. “SodaStream is a company that is not only committed to the environment but to building a bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine, supporting neighbors working alongside each other, receiving equal pay, equal benefits and equal rights.”
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Iran can build bomb at will, U.S. intelligence says
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Iran’s ability to create missiles with nuclear warheads is currently more dependent on the “political will” of the country’s leadership than on closing technological gaps, according to the annual American intelligence community’s report presented to Congress on Wednesday.
“Tehran has made technical progress in a number of areas—including uranium enrichment, nuclear reactors, and ballistic missiles—from which it could draw if it decided to build missile-deliverable nuclear weapons,” National Intelligence Director James Clapper wrote in testimony submitted to the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“These technical advancements strengthen our assessment that Iran has the scientific, technical and industrial capacity to eventually produce nuclear weapons,” he added. “This makes the central issue its political will to do so.”
According to the report, Iran continued to develop its nuclear program during the year prior to signing the interim deal in Geneva with world powers. The Islamic Republic continued to install “additional centrifuges at [its] Fuel Enrichment Plant, developing advanced centrifuge designs and stockpiling more low-enriched uranium.”
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United Hatzalah revved up by donation of 50 ambucycles from Stewart Rahr
(JNS.org) Charismatic New York Billionaire and philanthropist Stewart “Stewie Rah Rah” Rahr on Jan. 28 donated 50 life-saving ambucycle vehicles worth a total of $1.3 million to Israel’s United Hatzalah emergency services group. A ceremony in Rahr’s honor was held atop the Aish HaTorah World Center building in Jerusalem’s Old City, overlooking the Western Wall Plaza and the Temple Mount.
Rahr, 67, had originally donated a fleet of 12 ambucycles, which were on display at the event. But after Rahr shared his “rags to riches” life story—emphasizing that upon selling his billion-dollar pharmaceutical business, Kinray, several years ago, he decided to dedicate the rest of his life to philanthropy and “helping the little guy”—inspired attendees began making pledges towards additional ambucycles on the spot.
Feeding off of their enthusiasm, Rahr committed to match every donation to United Hatzalah— Israel’s first and largest fully volunteer emergency rapid response service—dollar for dollar, thus quadrupling his initial pledge. His generosity comes amid the backdrop of a new campaign to double United Hatzalah’s ambucycle fleet from 300 to 600 vehicles, in order to drastically cut down emergency response times across Israel.
Rahr told JNS.org that he only recently learned about the work of United Hatzalah, but was “so impressed with their enthusiasm that after just 30 seconds I was hooked.” He added that “saving lives brings [me] instant gratification.”
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Visiting Auschwitz, Israeli officials cite U.S. failure to bomb death camp
(JNS.org) The Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration’s rejection of pleas to bomb Auschwitz was on the minds of several Israeli leaders during the recent visit by more than 50 Knesset Members to the site of the former Nazi death camp.
“It always bothers me that the United States could have bombed [Auschwitz], could have made it their mission to stop the killing machine,” Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett told reporters, according to Israel National News. “But out of tens of thousands of missions during the war, they did not make an attempt even once.”
Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon noted that the U.S. “failed to bomb Auschwitz, and when they could have done it they said ‘it’s not part of the war effort.'”
Prof. David Wyman revealed in his 1984 best-seller “The Abandonment of the Jews” that American planes repeatedly bombed German oil factories that were just a few miles from the Auschwitz gas chambers and crematoria. Among the foremost advocates of such a bombing was Benjamin Akzin, who at the time was a staff member of the U.S. government’s War Refugee Board. Azkin (1904-1985) later became a distinguished academic and recipient of the 1967 Israel Prize.
Wyman cited documents showing that the Roosevelt administration refrained from actively helping to rescue Jews from the Holocaust because it feared that would increase the pressure to open America’s doors to refugees.
Until recently, it was believed that Jewish groups’ requests to bomb Auschwitz were all handled by lower-level U.S. officials and never reached President Franklin Roosevelt’s inner circle. But Dr. Rafael Medoff, director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies in Washington, DC, last year uncovered documents showing that Agudath Israel representative Meir Schenkolewski presented bombing requests directly to Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Secretary of War Henry Stimson in meetings with them in June 1944. The documents were published in Medoff’s recent book, FDR and the Holocaust: A Breach of Faith.
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Jewish groups divided on Sochi Olympics and human rights
(JNS.org) Jewish groups remain concerned with human rights violations by the Russian government as preparations for the Winter Olympic Games gear up in Sochi, Russia. But recent gestures by President Vladimir Putin may be a positive sign, some groups say. Security at the Olympics remains a major concern.
“The human rights situation in Russia requires serious and sustained attention, particularly the high numbers of hate crimes, state-sponsored anti-LGBT discrimination, and state pressure on nongovernmental organizations. This high-profile event for Russia provides a chance to demonstrate solidarity with the LGBT community and to promote democratic ideals,” Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), told JNS.org in a statement.
“This high-profile event for Russia provides a chance to demonstrate solidarity with the LGBT community and to promote democratic ideals. However, we do not support a boycott. Most importantly, our work will need to continue long after the Sochi Olympics end on February 23, and our suggestion has been to consider new ways for the U.S. to lead in the effort to have Russia address anti-LGBT persecution in the same way Jackson-Vanik dealt with Soviet Jews or the Magnitsky law addressed certain human rights violations,” Foxman said.
But Sam Kliger, the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) director of Russian Jewish community affairs, told JNS.org that AJC is encouraged by the “recent declarations by a number of Russian officials that there will be no discrimination against any group or individual (at the games), including LGBT people, whatsoever.” In addition, “letting [oil tycoon Mikhail] Khodarkovsky [gain his] freedom and some other gestures and signals of goodwill coming from the Russian government indicate that Russia is much more interested in conducting the Games in the spirit of sports, peace, and cooperation,” said Kliger.
AJC, however, is concerned with security in light of recent Islamist terrorist threats made against the Games. “We hope that Russia will do its best to prevent any attempt of terrorist acts during the Olympics. The good sign is that Russia reportedly cooperates with the U.S. on security issues. Rumors are that cooperation with Israel is also on the way,” Kliger said.
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IDF intelligence head: 170,000 rockets threaten Israel in ‘era of fire’
(JNS.org) The head of Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate, Israel Defense Forces Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, said the threat of rockets and missiles from Israel’s enemies is one of the greatest challenges Israel faces today.
“We call this period in time the ‘Era of Fire,’ in light of the amount of missiles and rockets we face as a constant threat. There are about 170,000 rockets and missiles that threaten Israel,” Kochavi said at the Institute for National Security Studies conference in Tel Aviv, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Despite a decline in the power of Arab states that surrounf it, Israel still faces threats from terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, Hamas, and even al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, emphasized Kochavi.
“For the first time the enemy now has the ability to hit Israeli cities hard,” he said. “The state of Israel is surrounded 360 degrees with active enemies. The conventional threats have not disappeared.”
Additionally, Kochavi said cyber warfare would be one of the greatest future threats, describing that element as one of the biggest shifts in warfare in more than 1,000 years.
“Cyber [warfare]… will be revealed in a not very long time as a revolution greater than the creation of gunpowder or the usage of the aerial space at the start of the past century,” he said.
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NYT’s Friedman: ‘Kerry Plan’ for Israelis and Palestinians may be revealed soon
(JNS.org) After months of tireless diplomacy, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry may be set to outline his framework for a peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians, according to prominent New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.
In a Jan. 28 column titled “Why Kerry Is Scary.” Friedman writes that the “Kerry Plan” will be revealed soon.
According to Friedman, the plan will “call for an end to the conflict and all claims, following a phased Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank (based on the 1967 lines), with unprecedented security arrangements in the strategic Jordan Valley.”
Friedman added that the plan will not force Israel to withdraw from “certain settlement blocs” and will allow Israel to compensate the Palestinians with Israeli territory. It will also call for the establishment of a Palestinian capital in eastern Jerusalem and for the Palestinians to recognize Israel as the “nation state of the Jewish people,” wrote Friedman.
The plan will not include the right of return for Palestinian refugees into Israel proper, according to the columnist.
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Late Edgar Bronfman praised by Hillary Clinton and Shimon Peres at memorial
(JNS.org) Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Israeli President Shimon Peres were among the 1,000 people who participated in a Tuesday night memorial service in New York City for the late Jewish philanthropist Edgar Bronfman.
Bronfman—a prominent s communal leader, and businessman—died at his home on Dec. 21 at the age of 84.
“He exuded a confidence and honesty that won him the friendship and support of presidents and popes and people everywhere,” Clinton said, the Associated Press reported.
In a video message, Peres praised Bronfman for speaking out for Jewish rights in places like the former Soviet Union.
Born in Montreal, Bronfman, heir to the Seagram alcoholic beverage company, took the helm of the company after his father’s death in 1971. He stepped down as CEO in 1994 and focused his energies on his foundation, The Samuel Bronfman Foundation. Bronfman also served as the president of the World Jewish Congress, where he advocated for the freedom of Soviet Jews.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org