Yair Lapid: Birthright ‘saved a generation’ of young Jews
(JNS.org) Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid said that the Taglit-Birthright Israel program, which provides free 10-day trips to Israel for Jews ages 18-26, “saved a generation” of young Jews.
“Taglit-Birthright saved a generation. We were on our way to losing a generation of young Jews around on the world,” Lapid said Wednesday at a farewell ceremony for Birthright co-founder Michael Steinhardt, held at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel Hayom reported.
Steinhardt is stepping down from his position as co-chairman of Birthright, 15 years after founding the organization together with Charles Bronfman.
Present at the event were program co-founder Bronfman, Birthright CEO Gidi Mark, Argentine businessman Eduardo Edelstein, donors, Members of Knesset, Jewish community representatives, and Birthright participants from around the world.
Aside from co-founding Birthright, Steinhardt created the Birthright Israel Excel program for business leadership with philanthropists Lynn Schusterman and Paul Singer.
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First proactive anti-BDS student resolution passes at Western Washington U.
(JNS.org) Associated Students of Western Washington University (ASWWU) became the first North American university student government to pass a proactive resolution against the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
In a 7-0 vote, ASWWU resolved that it would not consider BDS resolutions based on national origin because of the “tensions between students related to foreign conflicts should be managed in a healthy and collaborative manner rather than be exacerbated.”
Additionally, the resolution noted that BDS campaigns could result in students being targeted based on their nationality and lead to “disrespectful bias, hostility, hate, or harassment.”
The initiative to pass the anti-BDS resolution was led by Western Washington University (WWU) student Alysa Kipersztok, who brought the resolution to the student government after hearing about how the boycott issue has sharply divided student bodies at other schools.
“I’ve seen how divisive anti-Israel BDS campaigns have been on campuses across the country. [WWU] is a warm, respectful, inclusive community,” Kipersztok said in a statement.
Kipersztok, an Emerson Fellow for the pro-Israel education group StandWithUs, said BDS “has been a source of disconnect and resentment among students, creating a hostile environment.”
“It divides students, marginalizing those who support Israel,” she added.
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Gaza terrorists fire rocket on southern Israel, Netanyahu holds Abbas accountable
(JNS.org) A rocket was fired on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, landing in an open field near a major road. No injuries were reported.
Following the rocket attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would now hold Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accountable for any attack from the Gaza Strip due to the unity deal he signed with Hamas, The Jerusalem Post reported.
In a statement issued to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, Abbas condemned the rocket fire and called on Palestinian factions in Gaza to honor the ceasefire signed with Israel after Operation Pillar of Defense in late 2012.
But despite its participation in the unity government, Hamas has refused to renounce terrorism and recognize Israel.
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Egypt deploys battalion near Sinai border to fight jihadists
(JNS.org) The Egyptian military has deployed a new infantry battalion near the Red Sea resort city of Taba, which borders the Israeli city of Eilat, to prevent possible terrorist attacks in the region.
According to Egyptian sources, the deployment was coordinated with Israel, Haaretz reported.
The 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty prohibits the deployment of military forces in the Sinai. But due to the ongoing increase of jihadist groups in the region, Israel has permitted Egyptian deployments several times over the last year.
Newly elected Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who previously served as defense minister, has launched a major offensive against jihadist groups in the Sinai. Earlier this year, five Egyptian soldiers were killed when a military helicopter was taken down by the Sinai terrorist group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis.
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Paris Jew suffers taser attack after tear gas and axe incidents
(JNS.org) A third anti-Semitic attack over the course of about a week occurred in Paris. On Tuesday, six teenagers of African origin attacked a religious Jewish teenager with a taser gun at the Place de la République square, after which point they escaped the scene, reported the French-Jewish online magazine Alliancefr.com.
The incident comes just days after two Jewish friends wearing yarmulkes were attacked in Sarcelles, a northern suburb of Paris, by three men seemingly of North African descent who sprayed the Jewish friends with tear gas. The attack was captured on video surveillance revealed Monday.
Two other Jewish teenagers last week reported being chased down the street by an axe-wielding assailant while they were on their way to the synagogue in Romainville, another Paris suburb, according to the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism.
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UNESCO Jewish connection to Israel exhibit opens without ‘Israel’ in title
(JNS.org) The title of a once-delayed United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) exhibit on the Jewish connection to the land of Israel was changed to exclude the word “Israel” before the exhibit opened Wednesday in Paris.
Currently, the display is titled “People, Book, Land: The 3,500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People to the Holy Land.” The exhibit was authored by Robert Wistrich, a leading expert on anti-Semitism, for the Simon Wiesenthal Center. It consists of 24 panels showcasing the Jewish people’s connection to Israel. UNESCO was originally scheduled to open the exhibit on Jan. 20, but postponed the opening due to objections from the Arab League and received heavy backlash for that decision.
In addition to removing the word “Israel” from the title, UNESCO removed an image of the Dead Sea Scrolls from the invitation to the exhibit’s opening. That image was present in the original invitation from January.
Wistrich called the ultimate holding of the exhibit a “breakthrough,” but stopped short of expressing praise for UNESCO.
“I’m not praising them. I think they’re doing what they should have been doing in the first place. And I’m very happy that they’re doing it now. That’s not praise. It’s a fact,” he said, reported the Times of Israel.
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