News – Diaspora
After stirring much controversy, the Creating Change Conference announced today that it’s reversing its decision to cancel an Israeli event from a Chicago conference for LGBTQ activists, apologizing to A Wider Bridge, which advocates for LGBTQ rights in Israel, the U.S., and beyond.
“In reversing the decision today, we want to make it quite clear that the Creating Change Conference will always be a safe space for inclusion and dialogue for people with often widely different views,” said national director of the National LGBTQ Task Force Rea Carey. “It was not at all our intention to censor representatives of the Jerusalem Open House or A Wider Bridge at Creating Change and I apologize that our actions left people feeling silenced.”
A momentous decision was declared yesterday, with the Ontario government implementing a three-year freeze on Ontario hospital parking rates, urging that fees don’t run patients more than $10 a day. The Ontario Hospital Association has opposed the government’s decision.
Despite the ever-so-weak Canadian dollar, we have not allowed it to deter us from planning trips, particularly to Israel, The CJN has learned. According to the president and CEO of Peerless Travel Group, bookings for the summer of 2016 “look fantastic.” Take that, crumbling Canadian economy.
Egypt has revoked the citizenship of a Jewish woman after she joined the Israel Defence Forces, according to Ynet. “My biggest dream,” says 22-year-old Dina Ovadia, “is to visit Egypt wearing uniforms, tell them my truth about Israel, and declare: I’m Jewish, and I’m proud of it.”
Satellite images confirm that the Islamic State has destroyed Iraq’s oldest Christian monastery, which stood as a place of worship for 1,400 years. Yet another heritage site victim to the terrorist group’s ongoing persecution of non-Islamic religions.
Slovenia’s biggest supermarket chain has taken Israeli products off its shelves, marking another victory for the BDS movement. The Slovenian government holds shares in the chain.
German police are searching for a man with a “Hitler moustache” who reportedly attacked two Afghani men in the eastern town of Geising. The man, who also wore a steel helmet, reportedly gave a Hitler salute to the victims before striking them with his helmet.
A new poll claims that some 43 per cent of French Jews are interested in making aliyah. Last year, some 7,000 French Jews relocated to the Holy Land.
After the first prayer service to be held there in 65 years, vandals reportedly spray-painted hate graffiti on the Istipol Synagogue in Istanbul. According to a recent survey, a large majority of Turks (69 per cent) harbour anti-Semitic attitudes.
Jennifer Pritzker, an American Jewish billionaire (and reportedly the world’s only transgender billionaire) has donated $2 million (US) to the University of Victoria in British Columbia to establish what JTA reports is the first chair of transgender studies at a university.
The former president of Harvard, Larry Summers, has publicly spoken out against the BDS movement, calling such boycotts deplorable. “The idea that Israel should be singled out as a human rights abuser was morally insensate,” he said. Come back to Harvard, Mr. Summers.
French police have arrested two suspects involved in the murder of 73-year-old Alain Ghozland, a French Jewish politician found dead in his apartment last week. Police have yet to confirm whether the murder was motivated by anti-Semitism.
Vladimir Putin has a message for European Jews who are feeling unsafe: come to Russia. “They left from the Soviet Union. Let them return,” he said. Thanks, I guess?
TIME Magazine used the word “plantation” to describe Jewish settlers in Judea and Samaria Tuesday, evoking symbolism of slavery. Israeli businesses on settlements operate in “Israeli-owned industrial zones, on plantation-style farms and quarries on Palestinian land,” Karl Vick wrote.
News – Israel
Member of Knesset Ofir Akunis slammed Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom’s recent comments about Israelis “executing” Palestinian terrorists, saying that such rhetoric entices terrorists to commit more vile acts against Jews and Israelis. “Steps like this or ugly statements like Ms. Wallstrom made, will not bring peace closer, only make it more distant.”
The IDF and the Shin Bet have announced its thwarting of a terror plot planned by the son of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, Jawad. The cell was planning on collecting information and conducting a series of suicide bombings.
Natan Meir, the husband of 38-year-old Dafna Meir (who was murdered by a teenage Palestinian terrorist Sunday) says that he is not “angry with anyone” after his wife’s cruel death. “We do not curse Arabs. We are not people who hate. That’s not how Dafna and I educated the kids. I spoke with the children yesterday and didn’t hear a single bad thing. I talked to them about what we will do now. It’s not simple,” he said. May Dafna’s memory be a blessing.
Israeli police have arrested two Jewish suspects for church vandalism, after a 15- and 16-year-old allegedly wrote anti-Christian graffiti on the walls of the Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem.
Following attacks on Dafna Meir and a pregnant Israeli woman, Palestinian workers have been barred from entering Jewish settlements, for now. The decision will be reviewed on a daily basis.
Israel has announced its plans to seize 370 acres of West Bank agricultural land in the Jordan Valley, near the Palestinian city of Jericho. As the Times of Israel reports, it will be the largest such land appropriation since August of 2014.
According to StandWithUs, Facebook’s translator, powered by Bing, is reportedly translating “Flags of Israel” in Hebrew to “Flags of Palestine” in English. Considering that Microsoft is incredibly friendly to Israel, one wouldn’t assume that this is a company policy, but merely the work of one disgruntled employee.
Facebook’s translator, powered by Bing, is translating “Flags of Israel” to “Flags of Palestine.” We tested it out…
Posted by StandWithUs on Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Business
Israeli tech is guiding Amazon along on its latest venture: T-shirts. Kornit Digital, based out of Rosh Ha’ayin, has announced that Amazon tapped it to develop promotional textiles.
In The CJN‘s latest edition of Rabbi 2 Rabbi, Rabbi Adam Cutler and Rabbi Adam Scheier discuss Judaism in the ‘age of Rabbi Google’. It’s an interesting read.
Israeli startup Interlude, which creates interactive video content that heavily engages the user, recently secured $18 million (US) from Hollywood studios. The company also directed an ad campaign for SmartWater, featuring none other than Jennifer Aniston.
Sports
A British paralympic star is calling for a minute of silence to be held at the opening ceremony of this summer’s Rio Olympic Games, in honour of the Israelis massacred at the 1972 Munich Games. “It was an atrocity which was committed in the Olympic Village, and of course that’s how we should remember and commemorate within the Olympic world,” said Ade Adepitan. You’re a star, Ade.
Culture
We’ve all been patiently waiting for footage from DC Comics’ upcoming feature film, Wonder Woman, starring Israeli actor Gal Gadot as the superhero. Today, we received our first look at the film, and it sure doesn’t disappoint!
Israeli hasidic singer Neomi Hashmonay has just released her debut album which, as Haaretz points out, is just oozing with rock n roll.
Actor Maya Rudolph traces her roots (both her African-American and Jewish sides) in PBS documentary Finding Your Roots. The episode airs on Jan. 19
Did you know that the Eagles’ Glenn Frey had a secret Jewish history? You do now.
While balloons carrying a house up to the air will immediately conjure an image from Disney’s Up in your head, it was actually first thought of for a book called Mr. Zuko Takes Flight. The book was recently published after decades in the making, and a legal battle with Disney.
You’ve likely heard about this all-girl hasidic rock band, Bulletproof Stockings. According to a new report, the band has finally received approval from Chabad authorities. Read an expose on them here.
Besides Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad might be the most anticipated film of the year, but did you know it had an unlikely Jewish angle? Yes, our favourite crazy antihero, Harley Quinn, is actually half-Jewish. Which makes Margot Robbie an honorary member of the tribe. The new trailer for the movie was released yesterday, and it looks EPIC:
Michael Douglas and Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, have announced that they will visit three U.S. university campuses to talk about Israel and modern anti-Semitism.
Throwback
Speaking of Israeli startup Interlude, did you know the company was commissioned to create the music video for Bob Dylan’s Like A Rolling Stone, several decades after it was released? Watch it here, it does NOT disappoint.
Ideas for throwbacks or news items to include in the spiel? Please send them to [email protected].
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