09/29 Links: President Rivlin wishes Jews around the world a happy new year; Melanie Phillips: Israeli Arabs deserve better from their leaders; The EU is waging war on Israel! ~ EoZ

From Ian:

President Rivlin wishes Jews around the world a happy new year

President Reuven Rivlin wished Israeli citizens and Jews around the world a happy Jewish new year in a new video.

"Another year has past and a new year starts," Rivlin said. "In our prayers, we say, 'let the new year and its blessings begin.' After a difficult year for the safety of Jewish communities and relations between Israel and the Jewish world, let the new year be better and different."

Rivlin stated, "Over the last year, I have been honored to meet so many of your from across the Jewish world. Your commitment to the future of the Jewish people and to the State of Israel is inspiring.

"Despite the difference and the disagreements between us, we must take care to protect our relations and ensure they are strong and silent," he emphasized. "I believe our bonds are stronger than any difference."

Rivlin took pride in the country's accomplishments, noting that Israel "got to the moon, even if the landing was not entirely successful. We hosted the Eurovision, we printed an artificial heard and we have a Judo world champion.

"Many of those achievements are shared with you," he concluded. "I want to thank you for your partnership and for standing with the people and the State of Israel. Israel was and will remain your home, the home of all Jewish people. Happy new year!"

Trump wishes Jewish community a happy New Year

US President Donald Trump on Sunday issued a message to the Jewish community in honor of the holiday of Rosh Hashanah.

“As the High Holy Days commence, Melania and I wish those observing Rosh Hashanah a blessed and happy New Year.”

“This sacred day marks the start of a 10-day period of both celebration and reflection. Throughout the High Holy Days, those in the Jewish community engage in prayer and repentance, which culminate in the holiest day of the year in Judaism, Yom Kippur. Each day, with the blowing of the shofar, the Jewish people embark on a new spiritual journey to grow closer to Hashem and find a renewed sense of purpose in their faith,” said Trump.

“As men, women, and children around the world partake in traditional liturgy and enjoy customary meals with loved ones, we are all reminded of the virtues we can incorporate into our lives to better us as a Nation—kindness, compassion, and love. Together, with devotion to these ideals, we can form more sincere bonds with people of all faiths to help spread peace and prosperity in the United States and abroad.”

“Melania and I pray that those celebrating Rosh Hashanah build a more meaningful relationship with God throughout the High Holy Days. May the Almighty bless you all,” the President concluded.

President @realDonaldTrump and @FLOTUS wish all those celebrating Rosh Hashanah a happy New Year. pic.twitter.com/iVhkTF4U00
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 29, 2019

In Rosh Hashanah message, Boris Johnson vows to defend Jews from anti-Semitism

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to protect Jews against anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom, in a video message to Jews ahead of the Rosh Hashanah holiday on Sunday evening.

“I will always be there to defend you against the shameful anti-Semitism that we are increasingly seeing and which is such a terrible blight on our country,” he said.

According to the Community Security Trust, Britain’s primary anti-Semitism watchdog, the first half of 2019 saw a precipitous rise in incidents targeting members of the UK Jewish community.

The group counted a record high total of 892 anti-Semitic incidents during that period. It further said it was the highest number of incidents it had ever recorded in the January-to-June period of any year and is a 10 percent increase from the 810 incidents recorded during the same period in 2018 — itself a record high for a six-month period. There was a record annual total of 1,688 anti-Semitic incidents in the UK in 2018.

No, @JeremyCorbyn, Rosh Hashanah isn't about climate change. It's the Day of Judgment. And for saying "It will be my pleasure & my honour to host an event where our friends from Hezbollah will be speaking. I've also invited friends from Hamas...", may you receive all due justice. https://t.co/iKu87MZd51
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 29, 2019

.@jeremycorbyn, no matter how (bizarrely) you try to sweeten things with the Jewish community, you cannot hide the fact you are a rotten apple. https://t.co/VVZqdy0zq4 #ShanahTovah #RoshHashanah
— (((David Lange))) (@Israellycool) September 29, 2019

Jewish MP who called Corbyn an anti-Semite faces Labour ousting

A veteran Jewish lawmaker in the British Labour Party who last year called leader Jeremy Corbyn an anti-Semite will have to run in a local primary to keep her seat after losing a key party vote Saturday.

Dame Margaret Hodge, who has served as MP for Barking in London since 1994, will face a reselection vote, her local constituency party decided.

“I am obviously disappointed. My priority remains serving the people of Barking as I have done for the last 25 years,” Hodge told the Huffington Post. “At a vital time for the country, with a general election looming, we should be focusing our efforts on holding Boris Johnson and the Tories to account.”

According to the Guardian, new rules in the Labour party mean a reselection contest can be triggered if a third of local party members vote in favor.

Reselection allows parties to replace MPs by opening the door for other party members to run for the seat in a primary election. Labour has been accused of using the procedure to purge anti-Corbyn elements from within its ranks.

Hitler Hologram to Feature at Columbia University’s Next World Leaders Forum (satire)

Drawing inspiration from the successful performance of a Tupac hologram at the Coachella music festival in 2012, Columbia University has announced that the man voted ‘Most Awkward Threesome Partner’ will make an exciting comeback at their next World Leaders Forum.

The hologram is being designed by researchers at Columbia University’s Engineering School using the latest in Artificial Intelligence technology to truly recreate the cheeky dictator who must be well overdue an historical re-evaluation.

“Our past events with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and more recently with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad, generated so much interest that we knew we’d have to do something really special to outdo those events,” remarked a spokeswoman for Columbia University’s Department of Visiting Despots.

Many Jewish students at the university expressed upset at the announcement. “It’s like the university isn’t even trying to pretend anymore” remarked one sophomore.

David Friedman talks Iran, annexation, diplomacy in 'Post' interview

Israel has never had a better friend in the White House than President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly over the last year.

And during a ceremony in May marking the first anniversary of the US Embassy move to the capital, Netanyahu added a twist to that well-worn sentence, saying about Ambassador David Friedman that, “there has never been a greater friend in Israel representing the US.”

There has also rarely been a US ambassador in this country who has had such influence over his administration or proven to be such a lightening rod, both because he is considered so close to Trump – a president loathed by some and loved by others – and because of his unabashedly pro-Israel sentiments.

As a result, Trump’s former bankruptcy lawyer, who has been his ambassador for the last 2 ½ years and has been a key driver behind some of the president’s pro-Israel positions – such as the Jerusalem embassy move and the decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights – knows that he is going to get criticized whenever he opens his mouth.

No matter what he does and says, someone out there is going to take offense and slam him. Though this is not a situation he was used to in his previous life, Friedman told The Jerusalem Post in an interview in his official residence at the US Embassy’s annex on Agron Street – formerly the US consulate-general in Jerusalem – that it is something he has gotten used to.

“I decided early on that I have to be true to myself. I have to be able to live with my own decisions, live with my own conscience, and my wife and kids have to love and respect me – and that’s all it is,” he said. “And I have to have the support of the president. If I have all those things, everything else is just conversation.”

Melanie Phillips: Israeli Arabs deserve better from their leaders

The former MK Haneen Zoabi accused Israel of harvesting the organs of Palestinian prisoners and made a speech arguing that “Zionism is hostile to human rights all over the world” and that Jews had no right to self-determination.

There’s a long record of similar incitement by other members of the Joint List. Which is why even Avigdor Liberman, who is intent upon ousting Netanyahu, says he would never join forces with the Arab parties because “they are our enemies”.

They are also out of step with a growing number of Israeli Arabs who really do want to integrate into the Jewish state. Before last April’s election, some were quoted bitterly criticising the Joint List MKs.

“It didn’t represent us, and it did great damage to the [average] Arab citizen who wants to integrate,” said one resident of Abu Ghosh, an Arab village near Jerusalem. “We recognise the existence of the only democratic country in the Middle East and want to be a part of the country. And we’re proud of it. We, Israeli Arabs, exist with our Jewish brothers. Not coexist, exist.”

A woman doctor from Acre said: “To earn a decent living, to live like human beings – that’s what the average citizen wants. And the people who are supposedly meant to take care of us — the Arab parties — have quite simply abandoned us.

“I’m proud to be a Muslim and Arab Israeli woman. What the heads of the Arab parties are doing is honoring and glorifying murderous terrorists. They take the stage, talk about Palestine and don’t notice what’s happening here.”

Israeli Arabs need better representation. It would be a great advance if they were to participate in Israeli politics rather than shun it. They can’t do so, however, through racist leaders who want to destroy Israel.

A truly shared future will come only if Arab leaders learn from the growing number of Arab Israelis who are proud to be citizens of Israel, and finally start attending to their needs rather than plotting its demise.

The EU is waging war on Israel!

In May, we drafted a bill to outlaw BDS in Germany, forcing the other parties to draft their own, watered-down version.

In June, we drafted a bill to outlaw Hezbollah in Germany, which does a lot of its business here. The other parties all sided with Hezbollah.

And now, my colleague Beatrix von Storch revealed that, while countries including the USA, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium and New Zealand have cut funding for the blatantly corrupt and Hamas-friendly UNRWA, the Merkel government has stepped in to keep UNRWA afloat, more than doubling its funding from €80 million in 2018 to €173,2 million in 2018. The AfD is the only party in Germany that demands an immediate end to this. The AfD is also the only party in Germany which does not fund NGOs that support BDS and terrorism, as NGO Monitor found.

On August 15, I unfortunately had to return to Germany from Israel on important party business, while our delegation from the “Jews in the AfD” stayed on to tour Judea with Naomi Linder Kahn from NGO Regavim. She showed us the Bedouin settlements in the Adumim Area and Khan al Ahmar on Highway 1, and explained how EU money is used to fund illegal Arab settlements in Area C, on land that should belong to the state of Israel. She told us about the Fayyad Plan to illegally annex Israeli territory, and how it is supported by the EU governments.

She even drove us out to Khashem ad Daraj, where the EU spent €310,000 last year to build a road to illegal settlements on IDF training ground. This is a blatant violation of the Oslo Peace Accords, which the EU member states claim to support, and a fraudulent use of taxpayer money. Also, we learned how all the other German parties, from the Leftists’ UAWC to the Christian Democrats’ Society of St. Yves, finance NGOs who support illegal land grabs in Area C.

These are all parties and governments who routinely pay lip service to Israel’s right to exist and the importance of a negotiated settlement in Judea and Samaria. At the same time, they are waging financial warfare and lawfare against the state of Israel. We in the AfD are shocked and appalled to discover just how duplicitous and destructive German and EU policy is toward Israel.

We are only an opposition party at the moment. But we will use all our political leverage to combat this injustice, and invite our friends in the Israeli government, the Israeli parties and the Israeli Ambassador in Berlin, to join us in this fight!

Palestinian Islamist convicted of attempted murder of German officials

A German court in the southern city of Augsburg on Wednesday sentenced a radical Islamist Palestinian asylum seeker to a 10 year prison term for attempting to murder judges and prosectors. Haidar A, the extremist Palestinian, had previously been sentenced in 2017 for attempting to behead a refugee.

"It's amazing how a young man can be so caught up in hate, anger and blind rage," said presiding judge Sandra Mayer, " reported the local paper Augsburger Allgemeine. She added that "Haidar A. is caught in almost medieval ways of thinking and the court has little hope that he will develop for the better."

The court sentenced the 26-year-old Haidar for six attempted murders on Wednesday. Haidar sought during the judicial process in the Summer of 2017 to take the weapon of a police office in the courtroom. He was, according to the Augsburger Allgemeine, upset that the court sentenced him to a lengthy prison term for attempting to behead a asylum seeker with a knife in the town of Hurlach--a municipality in the district of Landsberg in the southern German state of Bavaria .

Haider also spat in the direction of the judge's bench and screamed: "To hell with you and those who created you."

Haidar wanted to behead the refugee because he "insulted his religious feelings," according to the paper's report. The court sentenced him to 12 years and nine months in prison. When the prison sentence was announced, Haidar tossed his shoe in the direction of the judge and attempted to secure the firearm of a police officer. The combined sentences from 2017 and Wednesday likely mean that Haidar could serve a prison term longer than 20 years.

Haidar wrote in a letter to cousins that judge is a "whore" and the other judges are her "pimps." He wrote in the letter that he wants to kill the judges. Haidar also admitted in a letter that he sent to the court that he wanted to carry out a campaign of bloody revenge on Germans and Christians. The German Bild paper reported that he wrote the panel of judges overseeing his case:
"I promise, if I get a pig from your worshipers of the cross in the hands, I will drink his blood. I'll spit at you and your cross. "

David Horovitz: Bill Murray’s ‘Groundhog Day’ moral for Israel’s politicians

Underappreciated at first, the Bill Murray movie “Groundhog Day,” a comedic fable about an embittered TV weatherman trapped in a time loop until he becomes a better person, has come to be regarded as something of a classic. Over the quarter-century since its release, it has also sometimes been pressed into service when describing political or military deadlock. And that’s just where Israeli politics finds itself today — paralyzed in “Groundhog Day,” condemned to repeat its election cycle over and over and over again, with no realistic prospect of a significant reordering of our reality.

Our national leadership standoff is not a complete case of gloom and doom. The climate of debate in Israel right now is less hysterical than that in the United States, where the president is battling efforts at impeachment. Our democracy — battered by a prime minister who has sought to demonize the Arab electorate and alleges that the media, the cops and the prosecutors are engaged in a witch hunt to oust him with trumped-up charges of corruption — seems nonetheless to be holding up a little better than that in the UK. There, the prime minister has just been castigated by the Supreme Court, in an 11-0 ruling, for acting illegally in suspending Parliament, but shows little respect and no contrition.

Here, an impressive 70 percent of us dutifully went off to vote on September 17, even though we’d done so just five months earlier. All the diverse sectors of the Israeli demographic exercised their rights, including the Arabs, where turnout rose from 50% in April to 60% this time. The voting process unfolded without major disruption, disproving widespread fears to the contrary. And, despite the prime minister’s pre-election warnings that nefarious forces were bent on stealing the elections, nobody seriously queried the results.

Our problem is that the enmity between our various would-be leaders is so profound, our electorate is so divided between them, and our election system so purely reflects those divides, that we cannot find our way out of our very own post-elections Groundhog Day.
President Reuven Rivlin meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on September 23, 2019. (Haim Zach/GPO )

To his credit, we do have one key political figure who is trying to break the loop: President Reuven Rivlin. Conscious of the limitations of his largely ceremonial powers, he presented a framework on Wednesday evening designed to enable our two would-be prime ministers, Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, to co-habit, but did so rather subtly. He suggested that the rivals share the premiership, with Netanyahu going first since he heads the larger bloc of Knesset supporters, and that legislation be introduced to allocate full prime ministerial powers to an “interim prime minister” should the prime minister be required to take a protracted leave of absence.

Liberman: Israelis won’t forgive Gantz, Netanyahu if third elections called

Yisrael Beytenu party chairman Avigdor Liberman on Sunday warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz that the public would not forgive them if they fail to form a unity government and send the country to elections for the third time in less than a year.

“The citizens of Israel will not forgive you if you lead us to another round of elections just because of ego and personal matters,” Liberman wrote in a Facebook post ahead of the Rosh Hashanah holiday.

Liberman helped trigger the September 17 vote by refusing to join a Netanyahu-led government after elections on April 9 unless a bill regulating military conscription for seminary students was passed without changes — a demand rejected by the prime minister’s ultra-Orthodox allies.

Falling one seat short of a majority without Yisrael Beytenu, Netanyahu pushed through a vote at the end of May to dissolve the Knesset and call fresh elections, rather than have another lawmaker get a crack at forming a government.

Liberman, whose party rose from five to eight seats in the September 17 elections and holds the balance of power in the Knesset between Netanyahu’s Likud and Gantz’s Blue and White, campaigned on forcing a unity government between the two parties if neither could form a coalition without him — a vow he has reiterated since the vote.

“The public demands a unity government,” he said, pointing out that Gantz and Netanyahu’s parties don’t even need Yisrael Beytenu to form such a coalition, as they hold a majority of seats between them. (Blue and White won 33 seats and Likud 32.)

West Bank terror bombing suspect in critical condition after interrogation

The suspected ringleader of a terror cell accused of carrying out deadly bombing attack last month was hospitalized Saturday in critical condition after an interrogation by the Shin Bet security service, his attorneys said.

On Saturday night, the Shin Bet revealed that it had arrested three Palestinian men suspected of carrying out the August 23 attack at a natural spring in the West Bank, killing Israeli Rina Shnerb, 17, and seriously injuring her father and brother.

This cell was allegedly led by Samer Mina Salim Arbid, 44, who has a history of involvement in terrorist activities with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group, according to Israeli authorities.

Arbid was arrested earlier this month and then released due to lack of evidence. He was picked up again on Wednesday.

According to the Haaretz newspaper, which first reported on him being hospitalized, the Shin Bet was given legal permission to employ “extraordinary measures” in its interrogation of Arbid. Such measures can include forcing prisoners into uncomfortable positions, sleep deprivation, shackling and subjecting prisoners to extreme temperatures.

This is typically allowed in cases of a “ticking time bomb,” where there is concern that the suspect could provide security forces with information that could prevent an imminent attack.

The Shin Bet said the cell was planning additional attacks when the suspects were arrested, including shootings and kidnappings. During the arrest raids, security forces also found and safely detonated an improvised explosive device that the group had made.

Arbid was taken to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus in critical condition after he apparently suffered a heart-related problem during the interrogation.

MEMRI: Jordanian Physics Professor Hisham Ghassib: Judaism Is A Despicable Religion That Should Not Be Respected; I Would Fight Alongside Hizbullah Against Israel, America, 'Petro-Reactionaries'

This clip is a compilation of videos that were published in September 2019 by Feeneeq Internet TV (Jordan) featuring Jordanian physics professor Hisham Ghassib discussing Zionism, Israel, and the Jews. In a September 7 video of a lecture at the Jordanian Philosophical Society, Ghassib said that the concept of a Jewish nation is a myth, and he strongly discouraged his colleagues from respecting and defending Judaism as a religion. Rather, Ghassib said that Judaism, the Talmud, and the Torah are "primitive" and "despicable" and that Zionism nationalized them and turned them into a modern fascist ideology. He added that "global Jewry" is very powerful because of its control of the international banking system, which he said it has controlled since the Middle Ages. In a September 10 video of a lecture at the Socialist Thought Club, Ghassib said that he would support Hizbullah in its fight against Israel, America, and "petro-reactionaries" despite its religious orientation because "its compass is pointing in the right direction." He praised Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah for "acting humanely" and for, according to Ghassib, only targeting Israeli military targets. Ghassib was born in Amman and has studied at Leeds University in the United Kingdom. He has previously served as the President of the Princess Sumaya University College for Technology in Amman, and he has received two national cultural prizes

Following are excerpts:
September 7, 2019 – "Accepting The Zionist Entity Means Accepting The Myth Of A Jewish Nation, It's A Myth"

Hisham Ghassib: "Accepting the Zionist entity means accepting the myth of a Jewish nation. It's a myth. Anyone who studies history knows this."

Other Professor: "We hold Judaism as a religion in high esteem. It's like all other religions."

Hisham Ghassib: "Speak for yourself..."

Other Professor: "I'm talking about Judaism as a religion. Our principle is that we respect others. Our problem is that these people occupy Palestine. The founders of Zionism... Perhaps people are unaware of this. They were atheists. Herzl was an atheist."

Rouhani Has Exposed the Futility of European Diplomacy

The reality of the delusional approach adopted by Mr Macron and other European leaders was, though, brutally exposed the moment Mr Rouhani arrived in New York. Instead of showing any sign of seeking to repair Tehran's strained relationship with the West and its allies, he instead indulged in an orgy of self-justification in which he sought to portray his country as an innocent victim of Western aggression rather than accepting, as is really the case, that Iran was the primary instigator of the latest escalation in tensions.

"The security of our region shall be provided when American troops pull out." — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, UN General Assembly, September 25, 2019.

This will have made for uncomfortable listening for all those European leaders who still believe that the best way to resolve the global crisis with Iran is by trying to save the nuclear deal.

The reality is that, so long as Tehran remains committed to its hostile stance towards the West, there is little prospect of having a constructive relationship with Iran.

Tehran's 'We Did, We Didn't' Game

For four decades, the mullahs have successfully practiced their "do-and-deny" tactic thanks to the indulgence, not to say cowardice, of Western leaders and the pathetic anti-Americanism of some Western pseudo-intellectuals.

Western anti-American intellectuals who become apologists for the mullahs are victims of their inability to conceive of a situation in which, while America may be bad, its adversary may be worse.

Then we had America versus the Third Reich. Later, America vs. the Soviet Empire, vs. the Vietcong and Khmer Rouge, vs. the Afghan Taliban, vs. Saddam Hussein. In every case, even if America was not the shining city on the hill, its adversary at the time was much worse.

Apologists for the Islamic Republic do not do it a service. By endorsing its illusions and shielding it against deserved criticism, they encourage its worst tendencies -- tendencies that could cost Iran and the region more than they imagine.

Revolutionary Guards commander: Iran has encircled Israel from all sides

An Iranian Revolutionary Guards top commander threatened Israel, warning against an Israeli attack on Iran, Radio Farda reported on Saturday.

"If Israel makes a strategic mistake, it has to collect bits and pieces of Tel Aviv from the lower depths of the Mediterranean Sea," IRGC Deputy Commander for Operations Abbas Nilforoushan said in an interview with the IRGC's Tasnim news agency, as reported by the US-funded Iranian branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Nilforoushan added that "Israel is not in a position to threaten Iran" and that "Iran has encircled Israel from all four sides."

"Nothing will be left of Israel" in case of a conflict between the two countries, he vowed.

The commander also commented on the confrontation between Israel and Iran forces or proxies in Lebanon and Syria.

"We will perceive any mistake in the region as involvement in a war in the whole region. Any action to start a war in the region will flare up a fire that will burn those who have started the war," he said.

Earlier this year, Israel claimed responsibility for hundreds of strikes against Iranian targets in Syria.

Nilforoushan also stated that Hezbollah would "liberate northern Israel in case a war breaks out."

"This will certainly happen, as Hezbollah has a good capability to do it," he said.

US Rejects Iran’s Zarif Request to Visit UN Envoy at New York Hospital Unless Prisoner Released

The United States rejected a request by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to visit Iran’s United Nations ambassador in a New York hospital where he is being treated for cancer, the US State Department and Iranian UN mission said on Friday.

A US State Department spokesperson said Zarif’s request would be granted if Iran released one of several American citizens it had detained.

In July the United States imposed tight travel restrictions on Zarif before a visit that month to the United Nations, as well as on Iranian diplomats and their families living in New York, which Zarif described as “basically inhuman.”

Unless they receive prior approval from Washington, they are only allowed to travel within a small area of Manhattan, Queens, and to and from John F. Kennedy airport.

Iran’s UN mission spokesman Alireza Miryousefi said Iran’s UN Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi was being treated for cancer in a hospital not far away in Manhattan’s Upper East Side neighborhood. Zarif is in New York for the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.

‘Beware of parasites’: Anti-Semitic posters put up in Warsaw ahead of elections

Anti-Semitic posters have been put up all over the Polish capital Warsaw in recent days ahead of the country’s national elections.

The posters include images of former and current Israeli diplomats as well as prominent Jewish figures along with the slogan “Beware of parasites” — using a play on the words to include the word for “Jew” as part of the word for “parasites.”

Among those featuring on the posters are US Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher, former Israeli ambassador Anna Azari, Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich, and London-born Israeli activist for Holocaust commemoration Johnny Daniels.

The posters also call for an end of restitution to Jewish owners and their heirs of property that was seized during the Holocaust, saying it is a “mafia” program, and demand that Poland “Stop the Jewish occupation” of the country.

“It’s part of a greater problem,” Daniels told The Times of Israel. “We saw this before the EU elections a few months ago — there is always a wave of hate from the far right about restitution.”

Israeli-Romanian Holocaust Survivors to receive NIS 16 million

The World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) announced that almost NIS 16 million will go to support approximately 2,500 needy Romanian Holocaust survivors in Israel. The Caritatea Foundation in Romania provided the funds through a program administered by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference).

“Since 2016, the Caritatea Foundation has provided Holocaust victims in Israel with nearly NIS 50 million for this program from the proceeds of the restitution of properties that were once wrongfully taken from Jewish communities in Romanian. These funds will help needy Holocaust survivors living in Israel to live with the dignity they deserve,” said Gideon Taylor, Chair of Operations, WJRO and Ambassador Colette Avital, Vice President of the Caritatea Foundation in a joint statement.

14 of the program’s beneficiaries are Holocaust survivors over the age of 100.

According to the WJRO, last week, NIS 15,890,040 million was distributed to 2,431 Romanian Holocaust survivors in need who live in Israel. This year, payments of NIS 9,340 were given to 1,356 Holocaust survivors in need.

The payments have increased by NIS 2,500 since last year and have gone to 1,075 additional survivors in need.

There is a program in place for Romanian Holocaust survivors living outside of Israel called the Romanian Survivor Relief Program (RSRP) and since its launch in December 2018, $1.3 million has gone to over 5,000 people. The RSRP will make more funds available in the coming months, according to WJRO.

Journalist traces grandmother’s Holocaust rescue from Nazis in unique podcast

For more than a decade, Rachael Cerrotti hunted for details of her grandmother’s rescue from the Holocaust. Now, a podcast based on Cerrotti’s work is being released by USC Shoah Foundation, marking the first time a survivor’s testimony is the focus of a narrative podcast.

Born in Prague, Hana Dubova escaped the Nazi onslaught by virtue of belonging to a Zionist youth group. Dubova left her homeland for Denmark at age 14 on a rescue mission for Czech Jewish youth without their parents. Soon afterwards, her loved ones were incarcerated in the Terezin ghetto outside Prague.

As Dubova made her way through Denmark and later Sweden, her family suffered in the ghetto. Eventually, they were “resettled” in the east, a German euphemism for extermination. The remote death camp Sobibor was the train’s destination, and all of Dubova’s relatives were likely murdered upon arrival.

Cerrotti’s podcast about her grandmother spans seven episodes with roughly four hours of content. The series, released September 29, is called “We Share the Same Sky,” and will conclude in November with the release of curricula materials created by “Echoes & Reflections,” a Holocaust education program.

Rosh Hashanah Rescue 1943

On the eve of Rosh Hashanah 1943, an entire Jewish community was hidden by their neighbors from those who sought their annihilation. When Yom Kippur arrived, members of that community were safe, at arms length from danger.

Adolf Hitler claimed he had a kinship with the people of Denmark on account of their common Nordic background. But he was very mistaken. The Danes proved themselves to be humanitarians in a world largely full of indifference to the victims of Nazism.

On April 9, 1940 the Germans invaded and took occupation of Denmark. The Danes did not put up a fight but gave token resistance against the far superior German armed forces. The Germans, seeking the cooperation of the Danes granted them control over their affairs. One of the reasons was that Denmark provided needed agricultural food supplies for Germany. In turn, Danish Prime Minister, Thorvald Stauning issued a proclamation urging cooperation with the occupying forces so “quiet and order would prevail.”

Life continued for the Danes and the Jewish community. The Nazis were aware that anti-Jewish activities would be opposed by the Danes and initially left the Jews unharmed. The Jews nonetheless maintained a low profile. Community activities continued but in a private manner so as to not attract attention. Amid the turmoil and horrors in Europe, there was a strange calm in Denmark.

Gal Gadot: Beauty, strength and brains make her Israel's best ambassador

There is no royalty in Israel, but if there were, Gal Gadot would be our queen.

Gadot, who combines beauty, strength and brains with that ineffable something extra that has made her a worldwide sensation, is the ultimate ambassador for Israeli and Jewish pride.

While Gadot didn’t have a new movie out this year, her presence loomed large in the entertainment world and the social media landscape, proving she is more than just another superhero actress.

With more than 30 million followers on Instagram, Gadot is more than an influencer. Even the men’s magazine Maxim, which tends to focus more on women’s measurements than their minds, noticed that Gadot has become far more than another pretty face, as it wrote in its description of her on its Hot 100 feature that she was “the only woman on this list who can field strip an M16.”

Gadot is still an actress, of course, best known for playing Wonder Woman, who will reprise that role in the new Cold War-set installment in the series, Wonder Woman 1984, which is currently in post-production and is slated to be released in 2020. This time around, Gadot earned $10 million for the role, a big improvement over the $300,000 (plus bonuses) she made for the original Wonder Woman.

She has proved herself on screen but she is much more than just a comic book heroine. In addition to the Wonder Woman sequel, she will be hitting both the big and small screens in three other projects in 2020. In the movie, Death in the Nile, Kenneth Branagh’s latest Agatha Christie adaptation, she will play a wealthy heiress. Red Notice, the biggest budget film in the history of Netflix, will star Gadot opposite Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds in an international heist story.

Shana Tova and Happy New Year from our soldiers! pic.twitter.com/w2MzMIHMV5
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 29, 2019

Happy New Year, Jews! pic.twitter.com/ssUPcUCbEx
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 28, 2019

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