HERITAGE FLORIDA JEWISH NEWS, OCTOBER 24, 2014
Weekly roundup of world briefs from JTA
Anti-Semitic graf-
fiti sprayed on Temple
Mount
JERUSALEM (JTA)--Graf-
fiti equating the Star of David
with a swastika was found
painted on the Temple Mount.
The graffiti in blue paint
was found Sunday in at least
three places on the Temple
Mount, according to reports.
Israel Police are investigat-
ing.
Two days earlier, Palestin-
ian Authority President Mah-
moud Abbas said in a speech
in Ramallah that Jews should
be prevented from entering
the Temple Mount and that
Palestinians should protect
the site, home to the A1-Aksa
Mosque.
"It is our sacred place, Al-
Aksa is ours, this Noble Sanc-
tuary is ours. They have no
right to go there and desecrate
it," Abbas said last Friday.
On Saturday, Abbas called
Jewish visitors to the Temple
Mount "a herd of cattle." He
also said that he would take
legal action to prevent Jews
from ascending to the site,
which is holy to both Jews
and Muslims.
The Temple Mount has been
the site of tension over the
recent Jewish holiday period,
as well as conflicts between
Palestinians and the Israel
Police.
Israeli-Arab doctor
killed fighting for ISIS
JERUSALEM (JTA)--Adoc-
tor who worked as a resident
at a hospital in southern Israel
was killed while fighting for
ISIS.
who were walking home from
kindergarten.
The driver told police he
did not stop after striking the
girls because he feared for his
life due to the crowd that had
gathered around the injured
girls, according to Ynet. He
stopped in the nearest Jew-
ish community, Ofra, where
he reported the accident and
turned himself in.
Israel Police said a prelimi-
nary investigation showed
that the incident was an
accident, according to Ynet.
Daughter of Hamas'
Haniyeh treated at Is-
raeli hospital
JERUSALEM (JTA)--A
daughter of Gazan Hamas
leader Ismail Haniyeh was
treated this month at a Tel Aviv
hospital, according to reports.
Haniyeh's daughter re-
ceived emergency treatment
at Ichilov Hospital, the hos-
pital confirmed, according
to Haaretz. She remained
hospitalized in Israel for about
a week.
The hospital did not name
the daughter--Haniyeh has
13 children--and did not
disclose her ailment.
Palestinian officials would
not confirm the hospital stay
to Israeli media.
Ichilov Hospital said it
treats more than 1,000 pa-
tients each year from the
Gaza Strip and Palestinian
Authority.
Haniyeh's mother-in-law
and year-old granddaughter
both were cared for in Israeli
hospitals this year. Israeli doc-
tors were not able to help the
assistance, the website re-
ported, quoting an unnamed
member ofShuvu Bonimwho
claimed that the congregation
declined to help.
Rabbi Pinchas Kornfeld
of Machzikei Hadass denied
the claim, telling JTA, "The
deceased's family asked us for
assistance and we offered to
cover all expenses for burial in
the Benelux, but we also said
that we would need a third
party to cover the costs at-
tached to sending the body to
Israel, which are substantial."
Yaalon heads to D.C. as
Israeli gov't ministers
rip Kerry remarks
JERUSALEM (JTA)--Is-
raeli Defense Minister Moshe
Yaalon left for a five-day U.S.
trip amid criticism by Israeli
ministers of remarks made by
Secretary of State John Kerry.
Yaalon headed to the United
States on Saturday night,
two days after Kerry linked
the rise of ISIS terrorism to
the lack of progress in the.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
at a State Department event
marking the Muslim holiday
Eid al-Adha.
"There wasn't a leader I
met.., who didn't raise with
me spontaneously the need to
try to get peace between Israel
and the Palestinians because
it was a cause of recruitment
and of street anger and agita-
tion," Kerry said.
In the U.S., Yaalon is
scheduled to meet with his
U.S. counterpart, Chuck Ha-
gel, and other U.S. security
officials, to discuss regional
issues such as Iran's nuclear
of opinion between friends,
but there needn't be attacks,"
Liberman said in an interview
on Israel Channel 2.
Last Friday, the State
Department clarified Kerry's
statement.
"What he said was that
during his travels to build a
coalition against the Islamic
State, he was told that should
the Israeli-Palestinian con-
flict be resolved, the Middle
East would be a better place,"
State Department spokes-
woman Marie Harf said. "His
comments were distorted for
political gains. He did not
make that connection."
But PLO secretary general
Yasser Abed Rabbo told the
French news agency AFP on
Saturday night, in response
to the Kerry statement, that
"linking the fight against
terrorism and the end of the
Israeli occupation is a strate-
gic position that we support."
Rivlin: Violence an epi-
demic in Israeli society
JERUSALEM (JTA)--The
epidemic of violence perme-
ates every sector of Israel, the
country's president, Reuven
Rivlin, said in an address.
"It is time to honestly
admit that Israeli society is
ill - and it is our duty to treat
this disease," Rivlin told the
Israel Academy of Sciences
and Humanities on Sunday
at a conference titled "From
Xenophobia to Accepting the
Other."
"The tension between Jews
and Arabs within the State
of Israel has risen to record
heights, and the relation-
woman told the Palestinian
Maan news agency that the
firebomb posed a "direct
threat" to the lives of the
soldiers and the soldiers "re-
sponded to the threatwith live
fire." She said there would be
a military police investigation
of the incident.
Rudy Giuliani among
N.Y. pols to protest Met's
'Death of Kllnghoffer'
(JTA)--Former Mayor
Rudy Giuliani will be among
several New York politicians
who are expected to protest
at the premiere of "The
Death of Klinghoffer" at
the New York Metropolitan
Opera House.
Among the politicians
expected to join the rally are
Reps. Eliot Engel and Peter
King along with former Govs.
George Pataki and David Pat-
erson, the New York Observer
reported.
There will be a"heavy police
presence" at the opening, ac-
cording to the New York Post,
which citing police sources.
Critics charge that the
production is anti-Semitic,
hostile to Israel and sympa-
thetic.to terrorists.
A coalition of groups or-
ganized the protest, which
will be held across the street
from the Met. The organizers
include the Simon Wiesenthal
Center, the Zionist Organiza-
tion of America, StandWi-
thUs, the Catholic League
and several New York City
synagogues.
The opera tells the story
of the 1985 hijacking of the
Italian cruise ship Achille
PAGE 13A
Pope Paul VI, first pon-
tiff to visit Israel, moves
closer to sainthood
ROME (JTA)- Pope PaulVI,
the first pontiff to visit Israel,
has moved a step closer to
sainthood.
Pope Franci s beatified Paul
VI at a Vatican ceremony
Sunday at the close of a synod
of bishops.
Paul VI, who reigned from
1963 to 1978, opened the
Roman Catholic Church to
formal dialogue with the Jew-
ish world.
Hevlsited Jerusalem in Janu-
ary 1964 on a brief trip to Israel
and Jordan. It was the first time
a reigning pope had visited the
Holy Land, but at the time the
Vatican did not recognize Israel
as a state--Israel and the Holy
See established full diplomatic
relations in 1993--and Paul did
not pronounce the word "Israel"
in public during his tenure.
Paul's trip came more than
a year before the landmark
Nostra Aetate declaration of
1965, which opened the way
to Catholic-Jewish dialogue
and was one of a number of
reforms enacted at the Second
Vatican Council.
Vatican Radio described
Paul as "the pope who steered
and implemented the Second
Vatican Council" and whose
decisions "were often metwith
psychological resistance from
those around him for moving
with the times."
Francis visited Israel, Jor-
dan and the Palestinian
Authority at the end of May,
in part to mark the 50th an-
niversary of Paul VI's trip.
The family of Othman granddaughter, Amal--she
Abdal-Kian, 26, from the hadanifi-fectionofherdiges-
BdbInfilae'f'Htlra, tear tire tract that affected her
Beersheba, confirmed to Ynet
that he had been killed fight-
ing for the jihadist group.
Abdal-Kian had been do-
ing his residency at Barzilai
Medical Center in Ashkelon
since February after studying
medicine in Jordan.
The hospital confirmed to
the Israeli media that he failed
to show up in May at the So-
roka Medical Center in Beer-
sheba, where he was supposed
to do an elective month, after
which the hospital learned he
had joined the Islamic State.
"Security forces turned to
us in their investigation of
his disappearance and then
we found out he joined the
Islamic State," the hospital
said in a statement.
He reportedly traveled from
Israel to Turkey and then into
Syria.
Earlier this month Ahmed
Habashi, 23, an Israeli-Arab
man from the Galilee in north-
ern Israel, was reported killed
.while fighting in Iraq for ISIS.
More than a dozen Israeli-
Arabs reportedly have joined
ISIS in recent months, accord-
ing to reports.
Palestinian girl dies
after being hit by settler
driver
JERUSALEM (JTA)--A
Palestinian girl died after
being hit by a car driven by a
Jewish West Bank settler who
fled the scene.
Einas Khalil, 5, died hours
after being struck near the
central West Bank town of
Sinjil, located northeast of
Ramallah. Another 5-year-
old Palestinian girl also was
injured.
Residents of the Palestinian
town accused the driver, 29,
of the Yitzhar settlement, of
deliberately hitting the girls,
nervous system and damaged
her brain--and died after
being returned to her family
in Gaza.
Israeli follower of fugi-f
tire rabbi drowns in
Belgian river
(JTA)--A follower of Rabbi
Eliezer Berland, an accused
sex offender who fled Israel,
drowned in Be!glum while
swimming in a river near
Antwerp.
The body of Nissim Levy,
27, was buried last week in
his hometown of Ashkelon,
the news website ashqelon.
net reported Saturday.
Levy was in Belgium to
be near Berland, head of
the Shuvu Bonim religious
seminary. Last year Berland
fled Israel amid allegations
that he sexually assaulted at
least two female followers,
including a minor.
Berland, who is living in
a southern suburb of Am-
sterdam with scores of his
supporters, apparently was
in the Antwerp area for the
weekend.
Israel has requested his
extradition from the Neth-
erlands, where Berland was
arrested last month at the
airport upon his arrival from
SouthAfrica. Since fleeing Is-
rael, he has taken up residence
in the United States, Switzer-
land, Morocco and Zimbabwe,
oftenwith dozens of followers.
Levy's body was sent to
Israel with help and funding
from the Shomre Hadass Jew-
ish community of Antwerp,
according to the Hebrew-
language Behadrei Haredim
news website.
His family also contacted
another Jewish community,
the haredi Orthodox congre-
gation Machzikei Hadass, for
program and the Islamic
State. It is his first U.S. visit
since Israel's 50-day operation
in Gaza this summer.
Yaalon also is expected
to meet in New York with
U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon, as well as the U.S.
ambassador to the United
Nations, Samantha Power,
and New York Mayor Bill de
Blasio. He is scheduled to
attend official ceremonies
at Ground Zero in New York
and at Arlington National
Cemetery, and to meet with
Jewish community leaders.
"The relations between the
U.S. and Israel are based on
common interests and shared
values, and those should not
be overshadowed by any dis-
agreement of any sort," Yaalon
said in a statement before he
left Israel.
Last Friday, some Israeli
ministers rapped Kerry for
his remarks.
"Even when a British Mus-
lim beheads a British Chris-
tian, someone will always
blame the Jew," Economy
Minister Naftali Bennett,
head of the right-wing Jewish
Home party, responded in a
Facebook post that linked to
a report of Kerry's remarks.
On Saturday night, Bennett
posted, "The notion regarding
the centrality of the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict is not
true and puts Israel at risk.l'
He listed several examples.
Likud minister Gilad Erdan
also criticized Kerry on Face-
book, askingwhether anybody
really believes Islamic State
fighters would put down their
arms if Israeli-Palestinian
talks were relaunched.
Foreign Minister Avigdor
Liberman on Saturday night
accused Bennett of using
Kerry's remarks for his own
political benefit.
"There can be differences
ship between all parties
has reached a new low," he,
sak. "We have all witnessed ....
the shocking sequence Of'
incidents and violence tak-
ing place by both sides. The
epidemic of violence is not
limited to one sector or an-
other, it permeates every area
and doesn't skip any arena.
There is violence in soccer
stadiums as well as in the aca-
demia. There is violence in the
social media and in everyday
discourse, in hospitals and in
schools."
The president added that he
has been verbally abused, in-
cluding on his Facebook page.
Rivlin said that Israeli
academia can play a "crucial
role" in reducing violence in
Israeli society.
"The academic sphere, in
which cultures and languages
are taught from a desire to get
to know them deeper, where
there is a 'you and I' affinity,
there is a place which gener-
ates not only learning but also
a real encounter," he said.
Rivlin called on the acad-
emy to be "a space which
prepares a new generation of
Israeli citizens to talk to each
other, and especially to learn
how to listen to each other."
Palestinian teen killed
by Israeli troops after
throwing firebomb
JERUSALEM (JTA)--Is-
raeli soldiers shot and killed
a Palestinian teenager in the
West Bank who threw a fire-
bomb at them.
Baha Samir Bader, 13, re-
portedly was shot in the chest
in a town near Ramallah on
Oct. 16.
The Israeli military said
troops fired at the teen when
he threw a firebomb at a unit
leaving the village of Belt
Liqia, according to the Times
of Israel.
An Israeli military spokes-
Lauro by Palestinian terror- Israeli rowing team
ists and the murder o(L¢r2. 4eus in world's largest
Klinghoffer, a 69-yeais-oid ..... e;e;;t
Jewish-American passenger
in a wheelchair. The opera by
John Adams debuted in 1991.
Klinghoffer's daughters,
Lisa and Ilsa, released a
statement Sunday via the
Anti-Defamation League that
will be featured in the opera's
playbill.
"We are strong supporters
of the arts, and believe that
theater and music can play a
critical role in examining and
understanding significant
world eVents," they wrote.
" 'The Death of Klinghof-
fer' does no such thing. It
presents false moral equiva-
lencies without context, and
offers no real insight into
the historical reality and
the senseless murder of an
American Jew. It rationalizes,
romanticizes and legitimizes
the terrorist murder of our
father."
The daughters said the fam-
ily was not consulted by the
composer and librettist, and
had no role in the development
of the opera.
The ADLhas said thatwhile
"The Death of Klinghoffer" it-
self is not anti-Semitic,"there
is a concern the opera could
be used in foreign countries as
a means to stir up anti-Israel
sentiments or as a vehicle to
promote anti-Semitism."
Under heavy criticism, the
Met decided in June to cancel
a planned global simulcast of
the opera in November. But it
stuck to its decision to stage
the show in New York.
Last month, thousands of
demonstrators gathered out-
side the Met on its Opening
Night Gala chanting "Shame
on the Met!" and "Say no to
the show!" in protest of the
Met's decision to produce the
controversial opera.
BOSTON (JTA)--For the
first time, an Israeli rowing
team is being represented
in the Head of the Charles
Regatta, the world's largest
two-day rowing event.
The event was being held
Saturday and Sunday on the
Charles River in Cambridge,
Mass.
The annual event attracts
over 11,000 athletes from
around the world and 400,000
spectators who line the banks
and bridges of the river near
Harvard University.
The Israeli.team consists
of Irina (Roni) Vorvoreanu,
Moran Samuel, Daniel Ruten-
berg, and Reuven Magnagey,
along with their coach, Robert
Nuckowski.
Due to injuries and eligibil-
ity issues, only Vorvoreanu
raced in the event. The 16-year-
old has rowed for Israel at the
junior world championships.
Samuel is a para-rowing
champion who before suffering
a stroke at 24 was a member
of the Israeli nationalwomen's
basketball team.
The team's participation
was arranged through a-col-
laboration between Israeli
and American businesspeo-
pie, the Boston chapter of
the Israeli American Council,
Combined Jewish Philan-
thropies and the Consulate
General of Israel to New
England.
Samuel and other team
members were scheduled to
speak at a public program
in a Boston synagogue and
attended a Brandeis Univer-
sity screening of "Two Who
Dared," a film by Joukowsky's
brother, Artemis, about Jou-
kowsky's grandparents, who
rescued thousands of Jews
during World War II.
