International

French Jews’ Fears Rising

Dani Shetrit — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 00:25:00 +0000

International

Stewart Ain

Staff Writer

With Sarkozy vulnerable, concern that the anti-Israel far left will gain ground.

French Jews fear that the odds-on favorite to win the French presidential run-off election May 6 will do so by reaching out to the far left, among whom are rabid anti-Israeli activists who favor the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement that seeks to delegitimize Israel.

The Jewish community’s favorite candidate, incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, remains behind in the polls after coming in second in a 10-candidate race in the first round of balloting last Sunday.

Abraham Foxman Anti-Defamation League France Francois Hollande french election french jews Marine Le Pen Nicolas Sarkozy

American-Style JCC Thriving In Krakow

Dani Shetrit — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:04:00 +0000

International

Steve Lipman

Staff Writer

N.Y.-born director sees deepening Jewish engagement; in Warsaw, unexpected signs of growth.

Krakow — At four crowded tables in the ground-floor meeting room of the Jewish Community Centre here, some hundred people attended the first-night seder during Passover last week.

It was the “biggest community seder in Poland,” says Jonathan Ornstein, the JCC’s New York-born director.

It’s another sign that the only such American-style JCC in the country is succeeding.

JCC Krakow

‘Voices’ Divided Over Israel

Dani Shetrit — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:01:00 +0000

International

Helen Chernikoff

Staff Writer

Blocks away from a food co-op’s BDS battles, a quirky, progressive and not exactly pro-Israel shul grows in Brooklyn.

Just a few weeks ago, the Park Slope Food Co-op became ground zero of the global movement to boycott Israel. A whirl of pamphlets, “The Daily Show” cameras and citizen journalists descended upon the Brooklyn neighborhood’s chic streets for a few days, and most of the area’s synagogues were swept into the melée.

BDS Boycott Brooklyn Ellen Lippmann Israel Kolot Chayeinu Park Slope Peter Beinart The Crisis of Zionism Zionist

Reluctant Hero

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:57:00 +0000

International

Steve Lipman

Staff Writer

Posing as a member of the Gestapo, Kew Gardens resident Fred Friedman rescued several dozen Jews in wartime and post-war Hungary.

Slovakian-born Holocaust survivor Fred Friedman, who has lived in the same corner house in the Kew Gardens neighborhood of Queens for 46 years, will turn 90 on Monday, a few days before Yom HaShoah. And if this landmark birthday is like past ones, the mazel tov calls Friedman receives will include a special group of well-wishers: fellow survivors who were saved by Friedman from the Nazi genocide.

Fred Friedman Holocaust survivor

‘We Looked On Him As A God’

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:55:00 +0000

International

Steve Lipman

Staff Writer

How an ordinary Polish farmer labored extraordinarily to save a dozen Jews. And how a Brooklyn woman spent decades lobbying for his Righteous Gentile honor.

Sometime in the summer of 1942, as the Nazi noose tightened around the Jews of Poland, Stanislaw Grocholski, a poor farmer who lived in a small village in the southeast part of the country, heard a disturbing rumor — some members of a Jewish family in the region, an old friend among them, had been spotted in one of the nearby fields.

Grocholski, a church-going Catholic, knew what the rumor meant — the Jews had escaped from their nearby town, Urzejowice, on the eve of a “resettlement” order and were hiding to save their lives.

Debbie Goodstein Engelberg family Mordecai Paldiel Museum of Jewish Heritage Righteous Gentile Stanislaw Grocholski Tsivia Engelberg Voices From the Attic Yad Vashem

Righteous Gentile Or Nazi Supporter?

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:50:00 +0000

International

Steve Lipman

Staff Writer

Wartime leader of Ukrainian church sheltered many Jews, but decades-long campaign has not brought Yad Vashem’s highest honor.

In the late summer of 1942, 7-year-old Leon Chameides accompanied his father on an hour-long truck ride. As the Nazis tightened their grip over the Ukraine, the two journeyed from a village in the western part of the country where the Chameides family, Jews from Poland, had found refuge with relatives, to Lvov, the major city in that region. After stepping down from the truck, father and son walked to a towering building on Mount Jur, in the center of the city, where they knocked on the door of Ukraine’s Greek Catholic Church headquarters.

Holocaust Leon Chameides Metropolitan Sheptitsky Nazi support Righteous Gentile

French Attack Shakes N.Y. Community; Security Alerts Here

Dani Shetrit — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:13:00 +0000

International

Adam Dickter and JTA

Massacre at Toulouse Jewish school results in call for vigilance as NYPD steps up visibility.

Yet another warning for local Jewish organizations to increase their vigilance due to events overseas went out this week, as the gruesome murder of four French Jews, three of them children, sent shockwaves around the world.

The New York Police Department had a visible presence outside major institutions such as large Manhattan synagogues, prompting some other organizations to demand the same level of protection.

anti-Semitism France

New Delhi Police Arrest Bombing Suspect

Dara Levin — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:57:00 +0000

International

(JTA) -- Police in New Delhi arrested a suspect in connection with a car bomb attack in the Indian city that injured the wife of an Israeli diplomat.

An Indian journalist, Syed Mohammed Kazmi, was arrested Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. A police investigation showed that he had been in contact with the man who police believe stuck a bomb on the car while riding by on a motorcycle and remains at large.

Police said Kazmi claims to work for an Iranian news agency and reportedly searched his house over two days, but they have not said what evidence was found.

car bomb Hezbollah Imad Mughniyeh India Iran Israeli Defense Ministry Netanyahu New Delhi Syed Mohammed Kazmi Tal Yehoshua Koren

Peres Launches Facebook Page At Company Headquarters

Dara Levin — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 12:37:51 +0000

International

(JTA) -- Israeli President Shimon Peres launched a Facebook page during a visit with company founder Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook headquarters in California.

As part of the launch Tuesday, Peres held a live chat with web surfers from around the world. His page calls on people from around the world to be his friend and "speak up" for peace.

Peres was to give a public speech Tuesday night at San Francisco'sTemple Emanu-El. He also is slated this week to tour the headquarters of Google as the guest of co-founder Sergey Brin.

Facebook Shimon Peres

New Iran Moves Fuel Fresh Debate

Dani Shetrit — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 01:22:00 +0000

International

Stewart Ain

Staff Writer

As ‘drums of war’ beat, can talks gain traction?

Just a day after Monday’s inconclusive U.S.-Israeli summit meeting aimed at forging a unified stance on Iran, the Islamic republic decided to open for inspection a secret military site believed key to its nuclear weapons program and the world powers agreed to restart talks with Iran aimed at ending that disputed program.

But the actions appeared to do little to salve those who fear Iran is determined to develop a nuclear bomb at all costs.

Iran Middle East Netanyahu Obama

Pro-Palestinian Group In Canada Calls For Boycott Of Sears Over Israeli Products

Dara Levin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:14:00 +0000

International

(JTA) -- A pro-Palestinian group in Canada has called for a boycott against Sears because it carries Israeli products.

Canadians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East asked Sears last month to drop its Israeli products, including Ahava cosmetics and Keter Plastic, the Canadian Jewish News reported.

The group said in a letter to then-Sears president and CEO Dene L. Rogers that many of the firms’ “products are sourced and manufactured in illegal colonies located in the occupied Palestinian territories,” the newspaper reported.

Canada pro-Palestine groups Sears

Wife Of Slain Iranian Scientist: His Goal Was ‘Annihilation Of Israel’

Dara Levin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:19:38 +0000

International

(JTA) -- The wife of an assassinated Iranian nuclear scientist said that her husband’s “ultimate goal was the annihilation of Israel.”

Fatemeh Bolouri Kashani, the wife of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, told the Fars News Agency in an interview published Tuesday that her husband was highly supportive of individuals that fought for the rights of the Palestinians against Israel.

Roshan, a chemistry professor and deputy director of commerce at Iran’s Natanz enrichment facility, was killed by a car bomb in early January.

Iranian scientist

Still Behind Bars In Cuba

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:34:00 +0000

International

Ron Kampeas/ JTA

Alan Gross revelations could hamper campaign for his release.

Washington — For the Jews of Cuba, it was the ultimate Internet connection.

The high-tech equipment that U.S. contractor Alan Gross brought with him to Cuba in 2009 to help connect local Jews to the Internet reportedly included a SIM card that makes it almost impossible to track satellite signals and is generally unavailable to civilians, even in the United States.

Alan Gross Cuba

Demonstrators Protest Israeli Stand At Milan Tourist Fair

Dara Levin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:01:57 +0000

International

(JTA) – Pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged a protest in front of the Israeli stand at an annual international tourist fair in Milan.

Video showed about 10 demonstrators dressed in keffiyas and holding the Palestinian flag passing out flyers and chanting anti-Israel slogans during the weekend protest at the Borsa International Tourism Exchange-BIT 2012 .

Police were called in to break it up.

International Tourist Fair Milan pro-Palestine groups

Kissinger, Others Honored By Israeli President

Dara Levin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:25:12 +0000

International

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was among the recipients of Israel's first President's Prize.

The new initiative, spearheaded by Israeli President Shimon Peres, honors individuals who have made a significant contribution to Israeli society and the country's global image.

Henry Kissinger President's Prize