Your Daily Spiel is The CJN‘s daily roundup of trending stories in the Jewish world
CANADA
Canadian foreign affairs minister Stéphane Dion has joined the chorus of voices questioning the appointment of Canadian professor Stanley Michael Lynk to the position of special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories by the UNHRC, saying that the nominee should should have a track record that can “advance peace in the region.” Seems only fair.
Canada’s ambassador to Israel, Vivian Bercovici, was in Toronto recently where she emphasized the importance of Canada getting behind Israeli high-tech so it doesn’t fall behind. “If you want to make it in global tech, in global innovation, you must be in Israel,” Bercovici said.
You may have read our satirical Purim spiel where Canadian rabbis were offering synagogue memberships to Americans leaving the U.S. due to the rise of Donald Trump, but there’s actually an American living in Toronto that’s looking to welcome his compatriots who are serious about leaving. Jay Rosenthal recently launched “If Trump Then Canada: Helping Americans Escape Since 2016,” where he can help Americans with any Canada-related questions they might have.
UNITED STATES
According to reports, printers at numerous universities throughout the U.S. were hacked into last week, and “anti-Semitic and white supremacist flyers [were] appearing in output trays.” The fliers are addressed to “white men,” promote neo-Nazism, and contain slanderous rhetoric about the Jewish people.
Georgia is the sixth state in recent months to pass anti-BDS legislation, prohibiting the state from doing business with companies that engage in boycotts of the Jewish state.
A Holocaust survivor who made custom-tailored suits for Elvis died this week in Louisiana. He was 100.
ISRAEL
Roseanne Barr attended Ynet’s anti-BDS conference in Jerusalem today, where she claimed that activists supporting the BDS movement are “right-wing fascists” pretending to be left-wing. Roseanne is a vocal supporter of Israel (and often shares content published by The CJN).
A former IDF soldier’s Facebook post, where he defends the Israeli soldier arrested for murder after shooting an incapacitated Palestinian attacker he believed was carrying an explosive device, has gone viral in Israel, garnering over 23,000 shares. Read it here. A recent poll shows that 82 per cent of Israeli social media users support the soldier, whose actions were immediately condemned by Benjamin Netanyahu.
Comedian/political commentator Bill Maher recently noted on how Europe “has been real a–holes about Israel” lately. “As of 2015, the UNHRC had issued more official condemnations of Israel than the rest of the world’s nations combined. I wonder now that Europe has been attacked four times now in a little over a year, and they say ISIS has 400 fighters that they are ready to introduce back into Europe, maybe Europe will have a little more sympathy for what Israel goes through.” Well said. Don’t hold your breath, though.
WORLD
Ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen, the European Union’s envoy to Israel, said today that, without the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there would be no need for BDS. “The most effective antidote against the BDS movement is to solve the Palestinian issue. If there were no Palestinian issue, there would be no BDS movement,” he said in Jerusalem.
Ahead of Ynet’s anti-BDS conference today, BuzzFeed published ten extremely accurate cartoons that depict the hypocrisy of BDS. The site removed the post (surprised?), but a cached version still exists.
The death toll from last week’s terror attack in Brussels is now at 35, according to police, while at least 70 were killed in yesterday’s Easter Sunday attack in Lahore, Pakistan, which targeted families celebrating the holiday. At least 300 were injured.
A parody of Beats by Dre emerged on an online store, Massdrop.com, recently: Klangs by Hitler. The headphones (presumably posted as a joke) offer “the final solution to the audio question.”
CULTURE
South African weirdo rappers Die Antwoord are officially coming to Israel in June, for their first-ever performance in the Holy Land.
Meanwhile, comedian Hannibal Buress (who stars on everyone’s favourite Jewish TV show Broad City) will be making his Israeli debut in Tel Aviv at the end of June. You won’t want to miss it, seriously.
At Comic Con in Toronto last week, the Walking Dead’s Tovah Feldshuh spoke with The CJN about her favourite acting roles, television, and reprising her role as Golda Meir.
Craig David’s manager, Colin Lester, is apparently a proponent of the anti-BDS movement, which has influenced David himself. Watch an Israeli television report below where David speaks out against BDS.
WATCH: Craig David and his manager, CCFP board member Colin Lester, discuss the cultural boycott on Israeli TV & our involvement in reaching out to Alicia Keys, when she was the target of BDS activists calling for her to cancel her Israel concert. David will be in Tel Aviv to play his first ever concert in Israel on April 10th!
Posted by Creative Community for Peace – CCFP on Thursday, March 24, 2016
Talib Kweli, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to share David’s “music knows no boundaries” mantra. In a Twitter rant, the rapper denounced Zionism and made several comments on Jews and anti-Semitism.
It matters because it’s wrong to act like only Jewish persecution is worth acknowledging. That’s Zionist bullshit. https://t.co/m6YGTG72kE
— Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) March 25, 2016
Have you ever looked at an old Bar or Bat mitzvah photo and thought to yourself, what the hell was I on? Well, you’re not the only one.
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