Your Daily Spiel is The CJN‘s daily roundup of trending stories in the Jewish world
Canada: Two Canadian community icons died over the weekend, including 92-year-old Victor Goldbloom, a Montreal public servant and interfaith dialogue pioneer, and 84-year-old Constance Glube, Canada’s first female provincial chief justice.
This video of opposition leader Rona Ambrose asking Justin Trudeau about resuming funding to UNRWA is making the waves online. You’ll notice that the PM doesn’t quite give the answer she’s looking for:
Canada PM Trudeau Challenged on UNRWA Funding Despite Terror I…Opposition leader Rona Ambrose, a guest of honor at UN Watch’s 2014 annual gala, challenges Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on reports that he’s planning to give $15 million to UNRWA despite its ties to Hamas terrorism and incitement to antisemitic violence. What do you think of Justin Trudeau’s response?
Posted by UN Watch on Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Mordechai Kedar, a former lieutenant-colonel with the IDF and currently a professor at Bar-Ilan University, sat down with The CJN to discuss Iran, ISIS and the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Discussing McGill’s upcoming BDS vote, noted journalist Barbara Kay argues that campus anti-Semitism looks to “instil hatred for the long term.”
The Notable Awards (featuring several Jewish nominees) are tonight in Toronto. Get tickets here.
U.S.: Whatever controversy taking place at York University over the now infamous pro-Palestinian mural seems like small fries compared to the anti-Israel sentiment that exists at Vassar College in New York. This university’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine is particularly vindictive, announcing on Facebook this week the “sweet anti-Zionist gear” they’ll be selling at events, including a T-shirt that honours Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled, the first female plane hijacker:
Check out our friends at Existence is Resistance!!! They will be selling sweet anti-Zionist gear at our events. 100% of profits goes towards Existence Is Resistance. #ExistenceisResistance
Posted by Students for Justice in Palestine at Vassar on Thursday, February 11, 2016
They also pictured several students holding signs that declare “Zionism is racism.” Legal Insurrection has the in-depth story.
A Texas rabbi has secured the right for a Jewish death row inmate to put on tefillin as part of his last rites. The rabbi says that Jeddia Murphy, who killed a 79-year-old woman 16 years ago, “smiled” when he showed him the tefillin. “And no one ever smiles on death row.”
Don’t know what a caucus is? Concerned about the U.S. elections and/or how it affects Jewish voters? Read this.
Israel: The story of a stranger on a train in Israel who witnessed an IDF soldier crying on the phone, pleading to her electric company not to turn off her power, is going viral after the stranger insisted he would pay her utilities right then and there. That’s the real Israel, but sadly, the one many (like the students at Vassar) will never know about.
There’s a women-only tour of Israel that gets its name from an Anita Diamant bestseller, a new educational initiative seeks to bring post-secondary international students to Israel, archeologists have discovered that Jerusalem was inhabited as far back as 7,000 years ago, an Israeli farm dating back some 12,000 years has been found in the Jordan valley, officials are mulling the notion of opening up a casino in Eilat (it doesn’t look good), and Jerusalem’s Zion Square will be renamed as Tolerance Square, in honour of 16-year-old Shira Banki who was stabbed to death last summer by a religious extremist during the city’s Gay Pride Parade.
A UN envoy has stated that Hamas’ tunnel threats against Israel are not helping Gaza, the IDF’s chief of staff told a group of students that he is opposed to soldiers using excessive force when dealing with terrorists, an Israeli family narrowly escaped injury after Palestinians were caught throwing molotov cocktails at their car, and an Israeli NGO is treating refugees in Serbia experiencing either emotional or physical trauma.
World: Following Paris’ decision to pass two anti-BDS resolutions, the U.K. formally introduced new legislation today that prevents local authorities and public-sector organizations from boycotting Israeli companies, for the first time, the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt will be taught in Egyptian schools, the mufti of Gaza recently gave a sermon on how to “properly beat your wife,” and a Hezbollah leader is apparently vexed that Sunni states are starting to view Israel as an ally in the fight against Iran.
A Jewish Swedish television star quit his show over the “unbearable anti-Semitism” that exists in Malmo, French feminists are boycotting Starbucks after a Saudi Arabian store banned women from entering (likening the move to Nazi Germany), and this video of a BDS activist unable to properly answer reporter Jon Snow’s question shines a light on the double standard that exists when it comes to Israel and boycotts:
Technology: Singer/songwriter/Israel supporter Lady Gaga wowed audiences with her rendition of David Bowie classics at Monday’s Grammy Awards, but did you know that her makeup wasn’t entirely real, and made from Israeli tech?
In an unprecedented move, Apple has challenged the U.S. government’s request to decrypt the phone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook, an Israeli company’s slippers are selling out quick in Japan, Israel is set to construct one of the world’s largest solar thermal plants, one of the first to work on an “extraordinary” cancer study where patients suffering from leukemia went into remission was an Israeli professor, and a new Israeli app, Hello Heart, helps organize and manage medical information.
Sports: Omri Casspi, Israel’s first NBA player, is having a breakout year, hitting career highs in his 7th NBA season.
Culture: The Eagles of Death Metal played for the survivors of the Nov. 13 Paris attacks last night in Paris, holding 89 seconds of silence for the victims.
A former American Idol contestant is making aliyah to Israel to join the IDF, Anthony Bourdain calls racism the most important food-related issue no one is talking about, and Ponzi-scheming Bernie Madoff said from prison that ABC’s miniseries about him is an “absurd mischaracterization.”
If you’re a Bob’s Burgers fan (H. Jon Benjamin is perhaps the most prominent Jewish voice actor today), you’ll enjoy this:
So if you’re interested in that Friends “reunion,” BuzzFeed has the scoop:
Ideas for news items to include in the spiel? Please send them to [email protected].
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