Netanyahu and deputy IDF chief reconcile after divisive Holocaust remarks
(JNS.org) Less than a week after Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Yair Golan made controversial remarks in a Holocaust Remembrance Day speech that drew a rebuke from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the two shook hands on Monday during a pre-Independence Day toast at the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv.
At the end of Monday’s celebratory gathering of Israel’s top military officials, Netanyahu said, “The story of the speech is behind us. I see this as a one-time thing, and from here we’ll all continue on together.”
Golan set off a firestorm last week when, in a speech at a Holocaust Remembrance Day event, he said he identified in Israel the same “revolting trends” that were present in Europe before the Holocaust. Golan later clarified his remarks, saying, “The comparison is absurd and unfounded. There was no intention of creating that impression or to criticize [Israel’s] political echelon. The IDF is a moral army that honors the tenets of purity of arms and dignity.”
*
U.S. announces $50 million in aid to the Gaza Strip
(JNS.org) The United States has announced a $50 million humanitarian aid program for the Gaza Strip.
According to U.S. officials, the aid—which will be distributed by the U.S. Agency for International Development in conjunction with Catholic Relief Services—will be dispersed over five years to provide basic humanitarian assistance and create jobs.
U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem Donald A. Blume said the effort is meant to address “the dire needs that are obvious in Gaza,” the Associated Press reported.
The announcement of U.S. aid comes as a recent World Bank report said that many leading Arab and Muslim states—such as Qatar, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia—have fallen well short of their promised aid to help reconstruct Gaza following the 2014 summer war there between Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas.
According to the report, Qatar, which promised $1 billion in aid, has so far only donated $152 million, while Saudi Arabia has only delivered 10 percent of its $500 million pledge and Turkey has only delivered one-third of the $200 million it promised.
*
London’s newly elected Muslim mayor suggests visit to Tel Aviv
(JNS.org) London’s newly elected Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, suggested that he would be open to visiting Tel Aviv.
“I’ve not even had my first Monday at work to be fair, I’ve had six hours sleep since Wednesday. But I’m keen to make sure I’m the most pro-business mayor we’ve ever had, and that means going on trade missions including to Tel Aviv,” Khan told the United Kingdom’s Jewish News.
The Labour Party’s Khan, the son of a Pakistani taxi driver, narrowly defeated his Conservative Party rival Zac Goldsmith in the May 5 election. Several of the U.K.’s leading Jewish organizations, including The Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies of British Jews, have congratulated Khan on his victory and believe he will have a positive impact on communal relations in London.
In his first official act as mayor, Khan attended a Yom HaShoah ceremony on Sunday.
“I’m honored that my first public engagement will be such a poignant one, where I will meet and hear from Jewish survivors and refugees who went through the unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust, yet have managed to not only build lives here in London, but give so much back for the benefit of wider society,” Khan said.
Yet Khan’s election victory comes amid an ongoing anti-Semitism scandal that has seen dozens of Labour members suspended for making anti-Semitic and anti-Israel remarks. Khan has called the scandal a “badge of shame” for his party.
*
Israel’s population tops 8.5 million at 68th anniversary
(JNS.org) Israel’s population has reached 8,522,000 people on the eve of the country’s 68th anniversary, the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reported on Monday.
According to the CBS, there are 6,377,000 Jews living in Israel (74.8 percent of the population), 1,771,000 Arabs (20.8 percent), and 374,000 people describing themselves as “other”—including non-Arab Christians and members of other religions—who comprise 4.4 percent of the population.
During the past year, 195,000 people were born in Israel and 47,000 died, while 36,000 immigrated to the Jewish state. Today there are 13 cities in Israel with more than 100,000 people, with eight of them having more than 200,000 residents, including Jerusalem, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Haifa, Rishon Lezion, Petah Tikva, Ashdod, Netanya, and Be’er Sheva.
When Israel was founded in 1948, the country only had 806,000 residents, and the CBS estimates that by 2035 there will be 11.3 million people living in Israel.
Additionally, the CBS said that among the roughly 14.3 million Jews worldwide, about 43 percent now reside in Israel. When Israel was founded in 1948, there were 11.5 million Jews in the world and only 6 percent lived in Israel.
*
Iran says it test-fired missile than can reach Israel
(JNS.org) Iran said that it has test-fired a missile capable of reaching Israel.
“We tested a missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) and eight meters’ error margin two weeks ago. An eight-meter error margin means…full accuracy,” Brig. Gen. Ali Abdollahi said, the Iranian news agency Tasnim reported. This distance would be sufficient if Iran wants to attack Israel.
“The reason we designed our missiles with a range of 2,000 kilometers is to be able to hit our enemy the Zionist regime from a safe distance,” said Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division.
Just two months ago, Iran also test-fired two ballistic missiles at a target about 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) away. Those missiles were marked with the phrase “Israel must be wiped out.”
*
Canada’s Fort McMurray fire victims aided by Jewish and Israeli groups
(JNS.org) Jewish groups in Canada are helping evacuate as many as 90,000 people from the Fort McMurray fire area in Alberta, Canada, where the large blaze has ravaged an area of about 400,000 acres—half the size of Rhode Island—and destroyed at least 1,600 homes and buildings, according to the latest reports.
The Calgary Jewish Federation is donating $25,000 from its emergency relief fund to help those who have been evacuated from their homes, while the Jewish Federation of Edmonton has set up a PayPal account to collect donations to help those who are displaced. Ve’ahavta, a Toronto-based social service organization, has also launched a fire relief fund.
“It seemed pretty clear to us that there should be a Jewish communal response to this crisis,” Ve’ahavta CEO Avrum Rosensweig told the Canadian Jewish News.
The Israeli humanitarian organization IsraAID, meanwhile, on Monday had one relief volunteer in the affected area and planned to send additional volunteers to Canada.
*
Articles from JNS.org appear on San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman. Comments intended for publication in the space below must be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the United States).