Your Daily Spiel is The CJN‘s daily roundup of trending stories in the Jewish world
Canada: The Canadian government passed a resolution overwhelmingly in favour of condemning the BDS movement yesterday, while McGill students went the opposite way, finally passing a warmed-over BDS motion (by a solid margin, no less). This video of Tory MP Tom Kmiec ripping into the movement at the House of Commons seems appropriate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62J5zJ_DWR8
An Ontario man fighting deportation over his role in a Nazi death squad has won yet another reprieve, and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau will become the country’s first prime minister to march in Toronto’s Gay Pride Parade.
U.S.: Variety magazine has refused to publish an anti-Israel advertisement paid for by “Jewish” Voice for Peace, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is seeking out personal artifacts from Holocaust survivors for a time capsule to be opened in 2043, a Palestinian human rights activist speaking at Chicago University was met with hostility due to his criticism of Hamas and the PA (when in Chicago, it seems you should keep your negative remarks about terrorist groups to yourself), a Vassar student insists that the school is not a hotbed of anti-Semitism, and there’s apparently a small, but growing, community of Jewish Mormons?
Israel: The Israeli government is poised to “dramatically” increase the number of Arab workers that can enter Israel from the West Bank, the Palestinian teenager who murdered Dafna Meir apparently went home to watch a movie with his family afterward, the Telegraph published a scathing account of the international media’s coverage of the recent spate of violence in Israel in a piece called “The media is twisting the knife into Israel over the ‘lone wolf intifadah,'” and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday, signing a joint statement of co-operation on water and agricultural issues.
The Jerusalem Post has become the first Israeli publication to publish an at-length interview with International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on the 2014 Gaza war, Israelis living near Gaza are terrified of Hamas’ terror tunnels, Israel’s foreign ministry hosted a delegation of Arab journalists from Europe in a bid to stop foreign media bias, and a group of Palestinians have staged a play in Gaza called Knife Intifadah that paints IDF soldiers as cold-blooded killers. “We want to show the world that a guy walking towards a barrier does not intend to stab soldiers. It is the soldiers who attempt to paint him as a terrorist,” an actor who is part of the play said.
World: A new report from Wikileaks shows that Netanyahu asked Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi to help re-establish ties with U.S. President Barack Obama, Mein Kampf has become Germany’s second-best selling non-fiction book, Israeli Jews have donated Torah scrolls to honour the victims of the Hyper Cacher attack in Paris, and the Muslim Lawyers Association of South Africa is trying to have Israeli icon and former president Shimon Peres, 92, arrested upon his arrival in the country.
Canada’s Jewish Schindler Steve Maman is at it again, this time spearheading a mission to help Yazidis stranded in Greece; a U.K.-based daughter of a Holocaust survivor has published his memoirs, stating her contempt for comparing post-war Jewish refugees to Syrian refugees; a new report looks at the rising rate of suicides in Gaza; a group of women riding bicycles around Gaza are turning heads (both literally and metaphorically); and ISIS has released a new propaganda film to recruit child suicide bombers.
Business: U.S. software company Oracle has bought Israeli cloud company Ravello (which helps consumers move complex apps to the cloud) for anywhere between $400-450 million (US), an innovative Israeli startup has developed new technology that will allow anyone to give themselves an eye exam (so long, optometrists), Israeli businessman Haim Saban has announced that he’s investing $100 million (US) in Israeli startups, Israeli and German researchers are working on piecing together fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and No Camels takes a look at the “coolest” Israeli startups at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Culture: The tale of two Jews who found each other on a non-Jewish dating site is being touted as a “very millenial Jewish love story,” details have emerged about Sia’s upcoming Israel performance (it will take place on Aug. 11 in Rishon LeZion), and cartoonist Al Jaffee, known for his work with Mad magazine, has spoken out about the mag’s relationship to Jewish humour.
British Jewish actor Sacha Baron Cohen introduced the world to his latest fictional alter-ego, Nobby, at the premiere of Grimsby in London last night.
Louis C.K., yes he’s a quarter Jewish, continues to get rave reviews for Horace and Pete, the web series that stars him and Steve Buscemi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU0lCpeyS5c
U.K. beatmaker Gold Panda has announced a new album, unveiling a new song and accompanying music video, created by Israeli visual artist Ronni Shendar:
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