Your daily spiel for Friday, Feb. 12

STANDWITHUS PHOTO
STANDWITHUS PHOTO

Your Daily Spiel is The CJN‘s daily roundup of trending stories in the Jewish world


Canada: According to the Globe & Mail‘s Doug Sanders, faith communities in Canada (particularly the Jewish community) play a larger role in resettling refugees than they do in many other countries. Here’s just a few examples to back up his claim.

Ottawa’s 10th annual Mitzvah Day took place recently, attracting a whopping 500 volunteers, students of Dalhousie University and other Halifax Jews are learning how to fight the BDS movement, anti-Israel advocate troll Roger Waters penned a letter to support York U’s controversial pro-Palestinian mural, and three Canadian cities made the Intelligent Community Forum‘s list of the top seven intelligent communities for 2016.

U.S.: A machete-wielding man injured four at Nazareth Restaurant, an Israeli eatery in Ohio, before being killed by police (his motive has yet to be determined), New York schools have pulled a suspiciously anti-Semitic educational video that claims Jews “got what they deserved,” and last night’s Democratic debate got a bit intense, with Hillary Clinton accusing trending Jewish senator Bernie Sanders of being a “single issue” candidate.

Screen capture from a video that compares Jews and Christians ADL PHOTO
Screen capture from a video that compares Jews and Christians ADL PHOTO

Israel: The number of terrorist attacks recorded in Israel last month was down 32 per cent compared to December, two Israeli couples have named their newborn daughters after terror victim Hadar Cohen, a Russian official says Russia and Israel are close to finalizing a free trade agreement, Israel exported some $10 million (US) worth of chocolate last year (half of which went to the U.S., only $88k worth came to Canada), SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum opened up about how “brutal BDS tactics” affected his company, but more importantly, lost at least 600 Palestinian Arabs their jobs, and Honest Reporting notes two organizations that have decided to wipe Israel off the map (literally): the Discovery network’s Science Channel, and the Health Professions Council of South Africa.

 Health Professions Council of South Africa
Health Professions Council of South Africa world map

World: A left-wing satirical magazine in Spain published a cartoon where Israelis urinate on Palestinians and shove Jesus around, an AirBnB host refused an Israeli guest because Israelis “don’t respect human rights,” a Dutch store is highlighting Israeli products to protest the EU’s new settlement guidelines, thanks to Portugal’s new law of return, Jews are flocking to the tiny city of Porto, a Jewish-funded humanitarian organization is supplying refugees in Greece with medical aid, Pakistan was able to thwart a prison break plot to free the killer of Jewish U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl, and a chorus of voices is calling on Croatia to fire a government minister who is a vocal denier of the Holocaust.

It’s true what they say, a picture really is worth a thousand words:

Antisemitism in Europe drove Jews to return home to Israel, but Antisemitism in the Middle East wants to drive Jews out of Israel! We won’t go!

Posted by StandWithUs on Thursday, February 11, 2016

Science: Albert Einstein’s notion of gravitational waves presented in his Theory of Relativity has essentially been confirmed after scientists made a significant breakthrough in detecting actual gravitational waves and black holes, and an Israeli professor at the Technion Institute has developed a small portable ultrasound system which will allow ultrasound scans to be performed in developing countries where medical infrastructure is limited.

Prof. Yonina Eldar with new device
Prof. Yonina Eldar with new device

Culture: In case you missed this Super Bowl commercial for Snickers, here’s Willem Dafoe channeling Marilyn Monroe, with a cameo from Canadian Jewish great Eugene Levy:

And speaking of Canadian Jewish icons, it seems that Drizzy Drake is psychic. After assuring fans that he’ll get a key to the city in his recently-released Summer Sixteen, Mayor John Tory has announced (wait for it) that Drake will be given a key to the city, just as Toronto gears up for NBA All-Star weekend. If you’re looking on where to celebrate the weekend festivities, click here. To hear Summer Sixteen, skip to the 34-minute mark below:

2016 will usher in the Summer of Pop in Israel, it seems, with rumours of pop stars like Madonna and Britney Spears set to perform, and confirmations from Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce, and also Jason Derulo, whose hit single, Talk Dirty, samples a song from Middle Eastern outfit Balkan Beat Box.

Iconic Jewish director Steven Spielberg has weighed in on the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, mentioning his surprise that Idris Elba and Straight Outta Compton received no nominations. You and me both, Steve.

Food: The latest edition of CJN column The Shabbat Table offers various recipes starring chicken. Shabbat Shalom.


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