Holocaust-questioning assignment to be revised by California school district
(JNS.org) The Rialto Unified School District in southern California said it would alter an assignment that asked eighth-grade students to write an essay about whether they believe the Holocaust actually occurred or was “merely a political scheme created to influence public emotion and gain.”
District spokeswoman Syeda Jafri said Monday that the assignment “was an error” and will be revised by a team of teachers, The Associated Press reported.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, in a statement suggested that the school district visit the center’s Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles to “learn about Anne Frank and the 1.5 million other Jewish children who were murdered during the Nazi Holocaust for the crime of being born Jewish.”
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Anti-Semitic graffiti leads to arrest of former NY police officer
(JNS.org) A former New York Police Department (NYPD) officer who left the force in 2007 was arrested for the spray-painting of anti-Semitic graffiti in Borough Park, a largely Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn.
Michael Setiawan, 36, allegedly had a mental breakdown when he sprayed swastikas and hateful language on 15 cars and the walls of several buildings, including a Jewish school. Security footage from the area shows a man believed to be Setiawan vandalizing the area with graffiti on Saturday. He was accused of spraying the words “F— you Jew” and “Jew cheap s—.”
“Hate is not a Brooklyn value, and I repudiate any lowlife individual who would spread their prejudiced invective,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, the New York Daily News reported.
Setiawan was charged with 19 counts of criminal mischief as a hate crime and 19 counts of harassment as a hate crime.
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Odessa Jews make plans to evacuate if violence worsens
(JNS.org) Odessa Jewish leaders said Sunday that Jews in the western Ukrainian city are preparing to evacuate if violence there worsens.
Recent violent clashes between pro-Russian and nationalist forces in Odessa, which is home to about 30,000 Jews, reportedly resulted in more than 40 deaths.
Representatives of the Ukrainian Jewish community insisted that the violence is not specifically targeting Jews. But Rabbi Refael Kruskal, who heads the Odessa-based Jewish philanthropic organization Tikva, said there were several Jews wounded in the clashes.
“If it gets worse, then we’ll take [Jews] out of the city. We have plans to take them both out of the city and even to a different country if necessary, plans which we prefer not to talk about which we have in place,” Kruskal told the Jerusalem Post.
The local Jewish community and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews have fueled 70 buses, which are prepared for an evacuation if needed, said local Chabad-Lubavitch emissary Rabbi Avraham Wolf.
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Report: Martin Indyk may resign as U.S. special envoy over peace talks collapse
(JNS.org) Martin Indyk, U.S. special envoy to Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations, may resign over the recent collapse of the peace talks.
According to Haaretz, Indyk has informed the Brookings Institution—where he took a leave of absence as vice president nine months ago—that he will be returning soon.
Haaretz also reported that Indyk was the anonymous senior U.S. official quoted in a Yedioth Ahronoth report that largely blamed the collapse of peace talks on Israel.
“There are a lot of reasons for the peace effort’s failure, but people in Israel shouldn’t ignore the bitter truth—the primary sabotage came from the settlements,” the anonymous source was quoted as telling Yedioth Ahronoth.
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Israeli Declaration of Independence featured in major American newspapers
(JNS.org) To mark Israel’s 66th birthday, the Israeli Declaration of Independence was featured as a full-page advertisement in two of the largest newspapers in the United States—the New York Times and USA Today.
The ad was a collaboration between the Helmsley Trust, which has issued more than $110 million to Israeli organizations since 2009, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which is hosting the ad online.
“By publishing Israel’s founding document in two of the most widely read newspapers across the country, we will reach many Americans who often don’t have the chance to learn about the deep similarities between our countries due to media coverage that focuses primarily on conflict,” said Helmsley trustee Sandor Frankel.
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Former Nazi prosecutor John Dolibois dies at 95
(JNS.org) Former U.S. ambassador John Dolibois, known for his role in the Nuremburg Trials, died on May 2 at 95.
Dolibois, who served in military intelligence during World War II, was the last surviving member of the team that interrogated top-ranking Nazis—including Herman Goering, Julius Streicher, and Rudolf Hess—during the Nuremberg Trials. He later served as vice president at Miami University of Ohio and was appointed U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg by President Ronald Reagan.
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