International News

Even as they wade through a swamp of unresolved controversies on their interim peace agreement amid distrust exacerbated by a terrorist murder, Benjamin Netanyahu and Yasir Arafat face the threat of that agreement’s broader collapse at their summit near Washington this week.

Even as they wade through a swamp of unresolved controversies on their interim peace agreement amid distrust exacerbated by a terrorist murder, Benjamin Netanyahu and Yasir Arafat face the threat of that agreement’s broader collapse at their summit near Washington this week.

For 50 years the image of Auschwitz burned into the world’s consciousness was the wrought-iron “Arbeit Macht Free” sign that mocked a million and a half Jews as they entered the Nazi slaughterhouse.
But in recent months, another image has been forced on the Jewish world: a profusion of crosses planted by Polish Catholic extremists eager to exploit latent anti-Semitism to boost their nationalist cause.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has a vision, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wants to make sure the U.S. administration doesn’t buy it, although some State Department officials seem ready to sign on the dotted line.
That may be the diplomatic script as both leaders make their case to President George W. Bush in the next few days against a backdrop of continuing suicide bombings and mounting pressure on Washington from the European and Arab states.

New U.S. Plan In Works?

by James D. Besser
Washington Correspondent
With Palestinian terror attacks continuing unabated, the Bush administration is dropping broad hints that it may be almost ready to offer more detailed suggestions for ending 20 months of violence.

Anti-Semitism is a hot topic on Capitol Hill these days, but lawmakers sometimes seem to get confused about the difference between the good guys and the not-so-good guys.
That was apparent when plans by the Helsinki Commission to hold hearings on anti-Semitism in Europe touched off a political rumble after the chairman announced the list of witnesses.
The commission, an independent federal agency that monitors human rights across Europe, includes members of both houses of Congress and representatives of the State, Commerce and Defense departments.

The crisis in Venezuela deepened this week in the aftermath of the beating of a rabbi, Friday’s attack on a synagogue and the growing exodus of Israelis from Caracas.

All of this comes a month after Venezuela expelled Israel’s ambassador and the embassy’s staff because of Israel’s offensive in Gaza. In New York Monday, more than 150 demonstrators shouting “Never Again” rallied outside the Venezuelan Consulate to protest the country’s failure to protect its Jewish citizens.

The resumption of Israeli-Hamas fighting this week, after the ambush Tuesday of an Israeli military patrol along the Gaza border killed one Israeli soldier and injured three, comes at a time of increasing anti-Semitism around the world.

As the Chabad movement mourns the shocking murders of two of its emissaries and four visitors in Mumbai, India, other representatives of the international Jewish outreach movement from Costa Rica to South Korea to Long Island are scrambling to review security procedures and put into place new protective measures.

Rabbi Osher Litzman, the Chabad representative of the recently opened Chabad House in Seoul, South Korea, told The Jewish Week that security for the Jewish community has always been very tight and will only get stronger post-Mumbai.

Ronen and Leah Hillel were happy in their home in North Woodmere, L.I. Ronen Hillel was working as the manager of a mortgage bank and the oldest of their six children were attending Jewish day schools.
“When times were great in New York and the money was there, the party was going on and we were living a comfortable life,” Hillel said. “But when the recession hit, things became a lot more difficult.”