Your Daily Spiel is The CJN‘s daily roundup of trending stories in the Jewish world. Sign up to receive it in your inbox by clicking here.
23,477 fallen soldiers. Today marks Erev Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) in Israel and the Jewish world. In memoriam, the Israeli Defence Ministry released statistics regarding the official number of soldiers, police and other security officials who have died since 1860 while defending Israel or pre-state Israel: 23,477. 23,477 have died so we can have a state of Israel, the only Jewish state we have. Let’s not take it for granted.
68 reasons you love Israel. In honour of Israel celebrating its 68th year of independence, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released a new video that highlights 68 wonderful reasons to celebrate Israel including diversity, high-tech, fun, delicious snacks and much more. Mazel tov Israel!
Speaking of Yom Ha’atzmaut – celebrate the right way, over shakshuka. The Consulate General of Israel in Toronto is marking Israel’s Independence Day on May 12 by encouraging the Toronto Jewish community to have a broad conversation about Israel over some shakshuka – or any other quintessential Israeli fare – to help the community connect with Israel and generate ideas for the future. Click here for more details.
From Trump the Bachelor to Trump the Republican. From 1990 to 2005, Donald Trump was a frequent guest star on Jewish radio personality Howard Stern’s talk show, discussing his female ‘conquests,’ boasting about how many women he’s slept with, playing the ‘who would you rather?’ game, and so on. Wow, he used to be so charming – what happened? Anywho, in a new ad campaign from Democrat Conner Elridge, he attacks Trump over his history of harassing women, using much of the material from Stern’s show as concrete proof. Sadly, given how many videos are already in circulation depicting Trump as a chauvinistic, uncultured ass, this is unlikely to hinder his campaign’s momentum.
Part-time dentist, full-time singer. The Eurovision Song Contest begins this week, with semi-finals taking place today and Thursday. France’s representative, as you may already know, is 31-year-old Israeli singer Amir Haddad (who goes by the name Amir), a certified dentist who appeared on Israel’s A Star is Born in 2006. He was still an IDF soldier at the time. Many believe the French-Israeli has potential to win the tournament. We’re rooting for you, Amir.
Promenade Mall: Soon to be one giant Yogen Fruz? According to various reports, Yogen Fruz has bought the Promenade Mall in Thornhill from Cadillac Fairview. The story has yet to be confirmed, but it does corroborate reports that Cadillac Fairview, one of the largest commercial property owners in the world, was looking to sell.
A Hitler-obsessed dog. A Scottish man has been arrested after teaching his girlfriend’s pup how to do a Nazi salute. In a YouTube video, the man keeps riling up the dog by repeatedly asking him, ‘Do you want to gas the Jews?’ How lovely. He also forces the dog to watch videos of Adolf Hitler, and has him give a dog-version of the Nazi salute. The man, identified as Markus Meechan, has apologized and denied being racist, calling the video a ‘prank.’ “I am so sorry to the Jewish community for any offence I have caused them. This was never my intention and I apologize,” he said. You’d think he would have guessed this would be controversial, no?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=126&v=SYslEzHbpus
Israel will be centre stage at Beyonce’s Formation tour…kind of. After designing a much talked-about dress for Beyonce to wear at the Grammys, Queen Bey has commissioned Israeli fashion designer Inbal Dror to come up with an entire line of dresses for her Formation world tour (which is rumoured to have a stop in Israel). “There is nothing more exciting than the admiration of a trend-setting star like Beyonce. It is a great honour to be a part of her world tour,” Dror said.
Giving Israeli Arabs a voice. A new documentary by Israeli-Canadian filmmaker Igal Hecht premiers tonight on the Documentary Channel, and gives a platform to Israel’s many minorities. “By giving Israeli minorities a platform, you see what is really happening in Israel. It’s not all rosy – anyone who thinks Israel doesn’t have racism, is an idiot. Arabs in Israel have complete freedom. It doesn’t mean there is no racism, there is,” Hecht says.
Click here for yesterday’s edition of Your Daily Spiel. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every day by clicking here. Send ideas, news items to [email protected].