Documentary on recently deceased Holocaust survivor Alice Herz-Sommer wins Oscar
(JNS.org) A documentary on Alice Herz-Sommer, who died last week at 110 and was at the time the world’s oldest Holocaust survivor, won an Oscar for Best Short Documentary at the Academy Awards on Sunday evening.
Born in Prague in 1903, Herz-Sommer was an accomplished pianist who survived the Terezin-Theresienstadt concentration camp and went on to teach at the Jerusalem Academy of Music for several decades.
The winning documentary, titled The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life, chronicled her life as a musician.
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Sen. John McCain thanks AIPAC for supporting military intervention in Syria
(JNS.org) At the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference on Monday, U.S. Sen. John McCain thanked AIPAC for its stance in favor of American military action in Syria last summer following the Bashar al-Assad regime’s chemical attack that killed 1,429 civilians.
The Obama administration, despite previously setting a “red line” of chemical weapons use in Syria, eventually agreed to a Russian-brokered deal to place Syria’s chemical stockpile under international supervision, rather than proceeding with a military strike.
“You did the right thing [by lobbying for a U.S. strike on Syria], and I commend you for it,” McCain told AIPAC. The senator said Obama’s failure to follow through on military action in Syria “sends a message all the way around the globe.”
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‘Very tense’ situation for Ukrainian Jews, says country’s chief Chabad emissary
(JNS.org) The Jewish community in Ukraine is feeling the strain of the country’s revolution, according to Ukrainian Chabad-Lubavitch Chief Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman.
“The situation in the [Jewish] community is very tense,” Azman told Israel Hayom. “We are on the brink of a war with Russia, and people are being called up to recruitment centers. Among them are also Jews who are supposed to be drafted to the Ukrainian army. It is not a simple situation.”
Currently, Ukrainians are most concerned about a possible violent outbreak in the Crimean peninsula. Azman, who is in contact with the Jewish community in the conflict zone, said, “There is tension there and the situation is not easy. With God’s help, we will overcome this situation and make it through. Chabad emissaries are working to help the Jews in all Ukrainian cities.”
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At UC Davis, anti-Israel group offers non-credit class on boycotting Jewish state
(JNS.org) The anti-Israel group Students for Justice in Palestine is offering a new non-credit course at the University of California, Davis that covers the meaning of boycotts against Israel and tactics for conducting them.
Hadas Buskila, the representative for the Jewish Agency for Israel at UC Davis, told Israel Hayom, “About 170 students and even two lecturers came to the first class. We are preparing to lead a strategic fight against this initiative, in cooperation with the pro-Israel group on campus.”
Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky has dramatically increased the organization’s number of emissaries and delegations on college campuses to more than 60, due to his view that campuses are one of the major arenas where delegitimization of Israel is being promoted.
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IDF chief meets with Haredi soldiers
(JNS.org) While hundreds of thousands gathered in Jerusalem on Sunday to rally against Israel’s new Haredi enlistment bill, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz visited with soldiers of the Nahal Haredi battalion in Judea and Samaria.
“Everyone needs to serve in the army,” Gantz told the haredi soldiers, Israel Hayom reported.
“The IDF allows a religious soldier to remain religious, an ultra-Orthodox soldier to remain ultra-Orthodox and a secular soldier to remain secular,” he added.
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PM after Obama warning: Israel’s ‘vital interests’ must be upheld in peace deal
(JNS.org) Following comments by President Barack Obama that challenged him to “articulate an alternative approach” to a peace deal with the Palestinians if he does not believe a deal “is the right thing to do for Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s “vital interests” must be upheld in such an agreement.
“The tango in the Middle East needs at least three,” Netanyahu said Monday. “For years there have been two—Israel and the U.S. Now it needs to be seen if the Palestinians are also present.”
Bloomberg View columnist Jeffrey Goldberg reported that Obama planned to warn Netanyahu of a “bleak future” and a “demographic disaster” if Israel does not support the U.S.-brokered peace talks with the Palestinians.
“There comes a point where you can’t manage this anymore, and then you start having to make very difficult choices,” Obama told Goldberg. “Do you resign yourself to what amounts to a permanent occupation of the West Bank? Is that the character of Israel as a state for a long period of time? Do you perpetuate, over the course of a decade or two decades, more and more restrictive policies in terms of Palestinian movement? Do you place restrictions on Arab-Israelis in ways that run counter to Israel’s traditions?”
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At AIPAC, Treasury Secretary Lew touts effectiveness of existing Iran sanctions
(JNS.org) U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew on Sunday at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference reiterated the Obama administration’s opposition to new Iran sanctions during the interim nuclear deal, and said the temporary relief that the six-month interim agreement gives Iran has not undone the impact of existing sanctions.
New sanctions could derail the nuclear talks between Iran and world powers and “splinter” the international effort that has made the current sanctions effective, according to Lew. “No amount of U.S. sanctions would have the same crippling power” without international backing, he said.
The current economic sanctions “have crippled Iran’s economy on many fronts,” including the fact that Iran’s rial currently has lost 60 percent of its value against the dollar, noted Lew. He explained that when the interim deal expires, “so does the relief” on Iran, and that the current $7 billion in financial relief would only continue to flow to Iran if the country demonstrates week-by-week compliance with the interim deal.
Yet Lew acknowledged that America is “under no illusions of who we’re dealing with,” citing Iran’s support for terror groups such as Hezbollah and its failure to live up to past promises.
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Netanyahu: Construction freeze not on the table
(JNS.org) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who departed Israel on Sunday for a six-day visit to the United States, told several Israeli ministers that the issue of freezing settlement construction in Judea and Samaria would not be discussed during the trip, Israel Hayom reported.
The comment followed U.S. media reports that Washington plans to demand a construction freeze in the areas outside the main settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria in order to convince the Palestinians to extend the negotiations by one year. The original nine-month window for the negotiations ends in April.
“In recent years, the State of Israel has been under various pressures,” Netanyahu said Sunday. “We have rejected them in the face of the unprecedented storm and unrest in the region and are maintaining stability and security. This is what has been and what will be.”
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President Hassan Rouhani admits Iran intended to develop nuclear weapons
(JNS.org) In the first admission of its kind by Iran, the country’s president, Hassan Rouhani, said over the weekend that the Islamic Republic indeed had a plan to develop nuclear weapons, but that the program was stopped because it was “a sin.”
In the past, Iran—which is currently negotiating with world powers over its nuclear program—had adamantly denied accusations of its intent to build nuclear weapons.
Rouhani told Russia Today that now Iran is “not after weapons of mass destruction.”
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Wounded IDF soldier proposes to girlfriend on stage of FIDF gala
(JNS.org) Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Captain Ziv Shilon, who lost his arm in October 2012 when an explosive device detonated near him as he patrolled the Gaza border, proposed to his longtime girlfriend Adi Sitbon in front of more than 1,000 people at a Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) gala in Miami on Thursday.
“FIDF says that our job is to protect Israel; their job is to give us the reason. I wanted to take this opportunity to ask my girlfriend, Adi, just one question. You are my hope, my rock, and my everything. I wanted to ask you, will you marry me?” Shilon told his girlfriend on stage. After an emotional “yes” from Sitbon, a congratulatory video message from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was aired.
Shilon was scanning an area near Kibbutz Kissufim for explosives the day he was injured. Fearing sniper fire, he left his forces behind him. A bomb detonated as he attempted to open a gate in the border fence. Shilon somehow managed to pick up his right hand, place it on top of his barely hanging left hand, and run back to his soldiers.
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Ukrainian synagogue in Crimea spray painted with ‘death to the Jews’
(JNS.org) A news website from Crimea, a Ukrainian region that is now the site of clashes between ethnic Russian residents and Ukrainians in the wake of the toppling of Ukraine’s president, reported that a synagogue in the city of Simferopol was spray painted with anti-Semitic language.
The spray paint included Swastika symbols and the wording “death to the Jews,” said Anatoly Gendin, head of the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Crimea, e-crimea.info reported.
Although there is no direct evidence linking anti-Semitic incidents in Ukraine with the broader unrest in the country, Gendin said, “When I look at this anti-Semitic writing, I understand that the provocateurs want to turn the attention of regular people to ‘those responsible for these negative changes.’ History tells us that those always to blame are—the Jews! What will happen later? I don’t know.”
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Egypt tells Hamas it will hold terror group accountable for border incidents
(JNS.org) Egypt’s military told Hamas that it would hold the Palestinian terror group responsible for any incidents along the Gaza border.
According to Israel Radio, Egyptian security officials have also told Hamas that they will not tolerate smuggling of weapons and goods.
On Friday, hundreds of Palestinians protested in front of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
“We demand the Egyptian authorities open the Gaza crossing permanently in both directions and we affirm that we won’t stop our peaceful escalation on Palestinian land until the [Israeli] siege is lifted,” said Hamad El-Rakeb, a leading member of Hamas, Al-Ahram reported.
Since the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi last year, Egypt has severely cracked down on smuggling through the Gaza border. Hamas says tunnel closures have cost the group around $230 million per month.
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Israel: Lebanon responsible for any Hezbollah attack from its territory
(JNS.org) Following a Hezbollah threat of retaliation for a purported Israeli airstrike on an arms convoy near the Lebanon-Syria border, Israel has warned the Lebanese government that it will hold them accountable for the actions of Hezbollah.
According to the Lebanese daily al-Akhbar, Israel sent the message through the U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL, which patrols southern Lebanon.
“It is self-evident that we see Lebanon as responsible for any attack on Israel from the territory of Lebanon,” Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said Friday, Israel Radio reported.
“It is the duty of the Lebanese government to prevent any terrorist attack—whether a terrorist or missile attack, or any other kind—on the State of Israel,” he said.
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Israel blasts IAEA over nixed report on Iran nuclear program
(JNS.org) Israel called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to complete and publish a report on Iran’s nuclear program that the agency nixed last year.
It was reported Feb. 27 that the IAEA, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, nixed the report over fears that it would anger Iran amid the Islamic Republic’s nuclear negotiations with world powers. A source told Reuters that the report would have probably included “updated information on possible military dimensions” of the Iranian nuclear program.
“The role of the IAEA is to expose to the international community all information regarding military aspects of the Iranian nuclear project, and not to withhold it for reasons of diplomatic sensitivity,” said Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz, who urged the IAEA to “complete and publish the report at the earliest opportunity.”
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