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January 2013

OP-ED: Passivity against racism leads to disaster

GENEVA, Switzerland (JTA) — One of the seminal slogans of the 20th century was the historic refrain “Never again!” This cry that rose from the ashes of the Holocaust was meant to ensure that there would be no repeat of the greatest tragedy in modern European history.

The refrain remains hollow if it remains a theoretical verbiage utilized during speeches and ceremonies but lacking any real intent and action.

In...

Report: Israel and Vatican to improve relations

(JNS.org) – Israel and the Vatican are on the verge of signing a historic agreement that will formalize diplomatic relations as well as potentially improve Israel’s ties with the global Catholic community.

While Israel and the Vatican established formal diplomatic relations in 1993, they have differed on a number of key areas, the status of the Catholic Church in Israel, sovereignty over Catholic sites, taxation and expropriation.

One of the...

Romanian Holocaust denying official claims to be moved by visit to museum

(JTA) — A Romanian government minister who denied that the Holocaust happened in his country said a visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum would “forever stay” with him. Dan Sova, who was appointed minister for parliamentary relations in August despite protests by Jewish groups, made the statement Monday, a day after International Holocaust Remembrance Day, in a letter he sent to Romanian Jewish organizations, the website of the B1...

Pro-Israel group claims Palestinians abused Jews at protest

NEW YORK (JTA) — The pro-Israel group AMCHA Initiative claimed that Jewish students at the University of California, Davis were abused and threatened at a pro-Palestinian protest on campus. In a letter sent Monday to UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi, AMCHA Initiative co-founders Leila Beckwith and Tammi Rossman-Benjamin alleged that demonstrators carrying “death to Zionism” placards occupied a public building on Nov. 19 and harassed pro-Israel students. The letter also...

Israeli planes reportedly strike Syrian transport

By BEN SALES

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israeli planes reportedly struck a Syrian weapons transport on the Lebanese border amid increasing fears that the country’s chemical weapons stockpile could fall into the hands of Hezbollah. The strikes, which occurred in the early hours of Wednesday morning, were reported to Reuters by a Western diplomat and anonymous regional sources who said that warplanes had struck the convoy as it passed from...

Tests on Ariel Sharon’s brain show signs of improvement

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Tests on former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon showed that he has significant brain activity, despite being presumed to be in a vegetative state. The tests conducted at Soroka University Medical Center to assess to what extent Sharon’s brain responded to external stimuli showed significant brain activity, including when he saw photos of his family and heard his son’s voice, the medical center said in a statement...

Iron Dome battery moved to Haifa amid unrest in Syria

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Israeli military has deployed an Iron Dome missile defense system near Haifa, according to reports. Two other batteries also reportedly were deployed in northern Israel in recent days, Ynet reported.

The move to the northern end of the country comes as concerns in Israel and around the world have increased that chemical weapons believed to be in Syria will fall into the hands of Hezbollah or...

Israel’s Health Ministry orders halt to injectable contraception for Ethiopian women

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Health Ministry has ordered the four public health maintenance organizations to stop giving Ethiopian Israelis a long-acting contraception injection. The order comes more than a month after an Israeli Educational Television report alleging that Ethiopian immigrant women have been coerced into taking contraceptive shots, which is behind a 50 percent decline in the Ethiopian birth rate in Israel over the last decade.

Ethiopian women interviewed in...

Israel summons Argentina’s envoy over deal with Iran

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Argentinian ambassador over his country’s agreement with Iran to jointly investigate the 1994 bombing of the Buenos Aires JCC. Israel’s ambassador in Buenos Aires, Dorit Shavit, also requested a meeting with the Argentinian Foreign Minister Hector Timerman to discuss the pact, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

Argentina and Iran signed an agreement over the weekend to form an independent commission to investigate...

Barrymore raising daughter Jewish, the force is with Abrams and more

By Six Degrees (No Bacon) Staff

NEW YORK (6NoBacon) — Drew Barrymore stopped by to discuss marriage and motherhood with the women of “The View” on Friday. Barrymore, who married art dealer Will Kopelman (son of Chanel CEO Arie Kopelman) seven months ago in a traditional Jewish wedding, talked about being married to a “nice Jewish man” from a “nice Jewish family.” While saying she hasn’t converted “yet,” Barrymore did reveal that...