 | ||
 |         |  |
 | ||
| MP3 Radio | Website News Briefs: | |||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
 |  |
1. Marzel-Ben Gvir to Remember Kahane with Rally in Arab City
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Nationalist activists Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben-Gvir will march on Wednesday in the Arab city of Umm el-Fahm, the stronghold of the Islamic Movement, one day after the memorial for slain nationalist Rabbi Meir Kahane.
The High Court accepted an appeal from the Our Land of Israel movement and rejected police objections that the demonstration will cause violence. However, the court disallowed a request to protest in front of the home of Ra'ad Salah, the jailed leader of the Islamic Movement, which Marzel and Ben-Gvir want outlawed.
Permission was granted for the demonstration to take place outside the headquarters of the anti-Zionist organization, and the maximum number of participants was raised to 70 from 50, the limit that was imposed in a protest in the same city earlier this year.
Salah was on board the Turkish-sponsored Mavi Marmara ship, whose IHH terrorists last May 31attacked Israel Navy commandos trying to divert the vessel from Hamas-controlled Gaza. Salah incited the IHH members to violence with a fiery speech before the commandos reach the boat.
Ben-Gvir noted that Peace Now is allowed to demonstrate in Hevron on the grounds of “freedom of speech” but that nationalists are accused of a “provocation” when they want to rally in Umm el-Fahm.
The protest rally will take place one day after memorials for Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was murdered in New York City. The Knesset later outlawed his Kach movement, which follows the rabbi’s teachings that Israel is exclusively a home for Jews.
Marzel commented, "There is nothing more symbolic of the fact that the students of Rabbi Kahane continue his struggle 20 years after his murder.
“We demand that the Islamic Movement be outlawed, and if the Kach movement is illegal, all the more so that the Islamic Movement should receive the same designation. Kach was not a terrorist organization, but members of the Islamic Movement are terrorists.”
2. Catholic Cleric: Jesus Cancelled Biblical ‘Chosen People’
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The Creator’s promise in the Bible that the Promised Land belongs to the Jewish People is no longer valid, a Catholic synod declared. An American archbishop at the Synod explained Saturday that the promise of the Creator was "abolished by the presence of Christ."
In a decision that is bound to set off a furious reaction from many Jewish leaders, the synod concluded that “recourse to theological and biblical positions which use the Word of G-d to wrongly justify injustices is not acceptable.”
However, an inherently contradictory Synod statement also declared, “The same Scriptures unite us; the Old Testament, the Word of G-d is for both you and us... We believe in the promises of God and his covenant given to Abraham and to you. We believe that the Word of G-d is eternal.”
The Catholic church in recent years has been trying to overcome centuries of anti-Semitism and proof that it exploited the Holocaust to try to convert Jews who were saved.
U.S. archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros, who heads the commission that issued the Synod statement, is a Lebanese native. He told reporters, "For Christians, one can no longer talk of the land promised to the Jewish people… There is no longer a favored people, a chosen people; all men and women of every country have become the chosen people.”
The term "chosen people" does not symbolize superiority in Judaism, rather it means chosen to be obligated to the 613 commandments in the Bible and to inherit the Land of Israel.
After two weeks of meetings, the Synod also said that a two-state solution of a Palestinian Authority country, in place of most of the Land Israel, would help stem the exodus of Christians from the area.
Concerning Jerusalem, the Synod said it is “anxious about the unilateral initiatives that threaten its composition and risk to change its demographic balance.” After Jordanian-occupied area of Jerusalem were restored to Israel in 1967, the Israeli government opened all Christian holy sites after Jordan had banned non-official visits and closed the sites to tourists from 1948.
The Synod recognized "the suffering and insecurity in which Israelis live" but focused on what it called Palestinian Authority “suffering [of] the consequences of the Israeli occupation: the lack of freedom of movement, the wall of separation and the military checkpoints, the political prisoners, the demolition of homes, [and] the disturbance of socio-economic life and the thousands of refugees."
3. Study: More Jews in US Than in Israel
by Chana Ya'ar
A new population study conducted by the University of Miami and University of Connecticut says more Jews still live in the United States than in Israel. “Jewish Population in the United States – 2010” estimates the total number of Jews in the U.S. at approximately 6.5 million.
However, the authors of the study, Miami U. Professor Dr. Ira M. Sheskin, director of the project, and Connectiut U.Professor Dr. Arnold Dashefsky, say they believe the figure is inaccurate, and the total is less – approximately 6.4 million.
Just before Rosh HaShanah this year, official census figures in Israel estimated the number of Israeli Jews was nearing six million, having risen to a total of 5,770,900 – an increase of nearly 67,000 from 2009.
However, said Sheskin, “The World Report will claim the opposite.” He added that the discrepancy was due to the method of data collection. “While the World Report uses national studies for its estimate, the U.S. Report sums up estimates of the Jewish population in over 1,000 local Jewish communities to develop a national estimate.”
Previously collected data was used to analyze Jewish populations by U.S. Congressional districts for the first time, according to Dashefsky. “We continue to add new scientific estimates and discover new concentrations of Jews in local communities,” he said.
The report, which included a number of new elements, compared local Jewish communities using four different criteria:
• Percentage of persons in Jewish households in a community age 65 and over
• Percentage of adult children who remain in their parents’ community when they establish their own homes
• Emotional attachment to Israel
• Percentage and number of Holocaust survivors and children of survivors
Sheskin, a professor of geography and regional studies, is also director of the Jewish Demography Project at the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies at the University of Miami. Dashefsky, his co-author, is a professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut and director of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at the university.
The report, available by clicking here, was published by the Mandell L. Berman-North American Jewish Data Bank at the University of Connecticut, in coordination with the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry (ASSJ) and Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA).
4. Proposal for Torah Scholar Stipends: On Hold
by Hillel Fendel
The hot domestic political issue of the day has been put on hold: A ministerial committee will draft a compromise proposal regarding “stipends for Torah scholars.”
The controversy involves a Knesset response to a recent Supreme Court outlawing of a decades-old arrangement under which the government provides stipends to Kollel students. A proposal to reinstate the stipends was to have been voted on Sunday by the ministerial legislation committee, but has now been postponed.
Background: The Knesset Labor Committee stipulated, 28 years ago, that while the unemployed would receive a stipend of 40 percent of the average national salary, a kollel student – a married man whose days are spent in the study of Torah – would receive only 20 percent, and even that only under certain conditions: he must have at least three children, a wife who does not work, and no car.
However, the Supreme Court ruled this past June, by a 6-1 margin, that the clause violates the principle according to which government stipends must be distributed equally.
Dissenting justice Edmond Levy said that Israel’s Parliament and Government decided that Torah study, a commandment rooted in Biblical Law, should be subsidized by the Jewish State. He said that the distinction made in this clause between university students and kollel students is based on “relevant variance,” and that even if the principle of equality is not sustained, the harm caused is not disproportionate.
The majority opinion, written by Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch, stated that the law specifically precludes minimum-income stipends to students in universities, colleges and yeshivot, and that therefore kollel students must also be included in this category.
MK Menachem Moses (United Torah Judaism) explained at the time why Beinisch's comparison was faulty “This was an arrangement that was rooted in law and regulations for decades, and was agreed upon in the Knesset," he said. "The Supreme Court’s intervention in legislation goes too far. It is ridiculous to depict a Kollel student receiving a tiny stipend - and only on condition that he has three children, no car, etc. - as if he is stealing from the public coffers, when the cost of a university student to the State of Israel is at least ten times more.”
Current Proposal and its Compromise Adjustment
The current proposal, submitted by MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ), would reinstate the stipends, according to the standards that have been in place until now. Following days of intensive talks between hareidi-religious MKs and representatives of the Finance Ministry and Prime Minister’s Bureau, however, the proposal will not be voted on today in the ministerial committee. Instead, it will be discussed in a smaller committee that will formulate a compromise proposal.
The compromise at hand would render university students who fulfill the same conditions – no car, three children, etc. – eligible for the stipends.
Kadima Attacks
The Kadima Party, which leads the Opposition, has attacked Prime Minister Netanyahu for “caving in” to his hareidi-religious coalition partners’ demands.
“In a democratic country,” a Kadima statement noted, “the Supreme Court rules and the government executes these decisions. The Netanyahu government has already sacrificed the entire national budget for its own survival, and it must not sacrifice the Supreme Court as well for its own stability… If Netanyahu circumvents the Court, he is circumventing democracy.”
Kadima’s position stands in opposition to that of many other experts on democracy. Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin, for instance, implied eight months ago that the Supreme Court’s overturning of Knesset legislation is a danger to democracy. He called at the time for Knesset legislation that would deal in a blanket matter with this phenomenon. The case at the time involved the Court’s nullification of a law allowing for the extension of a security suspect detainee’s custody not in his presence.
5. 22 Jewish Groups Listed on 2009 Philanthropy 400
by Chana Ya'ar
Twenty-two Jewish organizations made the 2009 list of groups selected for the U.S.-based Chronicle of Philanthropy 400 this year.
Several of the groups saw a considerable rise in their fortunes, despite the worldwide economic crash.
Among those was the # 264-ranked Birthright Israel Foundation, which raised $71,369,840 – a gain of 46.8 percent over 2008. Another was #296-ranked The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, with an income of $62,297,511, an increase of 10.5 percent over its previous 12-month period. The #362-ranked Jewish National Fund also increased its income by some 8.8 percent, to $48,342,847.
The highest-ranking Jewish organization, the #45-ranked Jewish Federations of North America, pulled in $320,252,000 in its fundraising activities in 2009, according to the report – but at a 19.6 percent drop from the previous year.
Several other Jewish organizations listed among the top flyers, some quite prominent, lost even more income.
Yeshiva University, ranked at #176, raised $111,124,401 – a drop of 39.2 percent from 2008. The # 278-ranked Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco raised “only” $66,311,911 over the year – a drop of 44.3 percent from the previous 12 month period. P.E. F. Israel Endowment Funds also lost money; the fund raised $47,995,288 – 35.1 percent less than the previous year.
Many of the losses were due to the so-called Madoff scandal – the collapse of a massive funding mechanism set up by entrepreneur Bernie Madoff, who confessed to masterminding a failed ponzi scheme. The collapse of the funding setup sent countless investors into bankruptcy, and numerous aid organizations into a desperate struggle for survival.
6. Arab Violence Spreads to Tzfat
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Arab violence against Jews spread to the northern city of Tzfat (Safed) on the Sabbath, several days after rabbis urged Jews not to rent or sell to Arabs.
The Friday night clashes between hareidi religious Jews and Arabs began after an argument with Jews who rent rooms at the college in Tzfat, one of the traditional four holy cities besides Jerusalem, Tiberias and Hevron. A police investigation is in progress.
Tzfat residents also said that a Palestinian Authority flag was raised on top of a Muslim mosque in the city Saturday night.
Police denied there was any connection between the Arab stone-throwing riot and the proclamation by 18 rabbis last week, calling on Jews to avoid turning over residences to Arabs. Left-wing groups have called on the government to investigate the rabbis for incitement.
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the city's chief rabbi and son of the late Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, explained that the intention of the ruling was to prevent a threat to public safely. "It creates a lot of tension in the city," he said. "When a non-Jew moves in, residents begin to worry about their children, about their daughters." Many Arab students have been known to date Jewish girls.
The Chabad-Lubavitch movement, whose rabbis were among the signatories of the ruling, noted that the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson – known as the ”Rebbe” – opposed the sale of houses in the religious Crown Heights neighborhood in New York to non-Jews to avoid the area becoming a Jewish “outpost” instead of a vibrant center of Jewish life.
Two left-wing groups responded to the rabbis’ ruling by calling on Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to lead a criminal investigation against Rabbi Eliyahu for incitement to racism.
“These sentiments are prohibited by law, and worse ten-fold when they are expressed by a public figure in an official capacity,” the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) of the Reform movement wrote to Weinstein. “
An official of the Abraham Fund, which promotes Arab-Israel activities, said it wants Rabbi Eliyahu fired because as a government employee, “He can't express himself in a racist way.”
7. Britain Elects Islamic Mayor, Marks Increasing Muslim Influence
by Chana Ya'ar
Barely 25 percent of the East London borough of Tower Hamlets bothered to vote for a mayor this week; at the end, an Islamist candidate was elected. The race was ultimately between Lutfur Rahman, running as an Independent candidate, and Helal Abbas, the Labor Party candidate.
An article written in the January 3 edition of the London Evening Standard claimed the Tower Hamlets council was alleged to have “fallen under the influence of the Islamic Forum of Europe.” The piece quoted parliamentarian Jim Fitzpatrick, who said the IFE has been “placing people within the political parties, recruiting members, trying to get individuals elected so they can exercise political influence at local government or national level.”
Rahman, who won the election by an almost two-to-one margin, is linked with the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) and has a number of wealthy backers, including powerful local business owners.
Rahman garnered 23,283 votes, as opposed to the 11,254 ballots picked up by Abbas. Another 1,700 votes were discounted as invalid; 10,448 others went to three other candidates, including 5, 348 votes that went to the Conservative Party, which vowed to become “the largest opposition party.”
Replaced by Abbas as the Labor Party’s candidate due to allegations of extremism, Rahman activists “heckled women on their way to the polls for their ‘immodest dress,’ no doubt scaring many away from voting,” charged British blogger David Thomas in a column written for Cherwell.
“I won the vote of the membership,” insisted Rahman, who claimed he was the victim of a racist effort by the Labor party, despite a number of anti-Semitic remarks made by his own associates. “The imposition of Councilor Abbas in my place is an insult to the democratic process,” he told The Telegraph in an interview prior to the election.
“This is a sad night for those of us who want to build a better future and a united Tower Hamlets,” Abbas commented after the results were announced. Still, “as the party with the largest number of councilors (lawmakers) at Tower Hamlets Town Hall,” Abbas vowed to “hold the new Mayor to account and to stand up for all the communities of Tower Hamlets, not just one.”
More Website News:
 | ‘Americans for a Safe Israel’ Marks 30th Mission  |
| Cameras Help Police Nab 2 Arabs who Attacked Jew in Old City |
| Illegal Entry to Israel on Exponential Rise |
| AMISRAEL Brings Shalit's Plight to South America |
| PA Offers Incentives to Jerusalem Investors |
