APRIL 2010 Vol. 3 - Issue 4

MARCH 2010 SETS ANOTHER RECORD FOR TRAVEL TO ISRAEL

An all-time high of 313,000 travelers arrived in Israel last month, a 56% increase over the same period last year, and a 9% increase compared to the previous record set in March 2000. Also, travel to Israel saw a 54% increase in the first quarter of 2010, compared to the same period last year. These statistics follow record years for travel to Israel in 2008 and 2009.

MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV TO PERFORM IN ISRAEL THIS SUMMER

Legendary dancer and choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov will perform in Israel in a joint performance with Ana Laguna, June 26 and 28-29. The performance, entitled "Three solos and a duet," will include choreography by Mats Ek, Benjamin Millepied and Alexei Ratmansky. The concerts will take place at the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv on June 26 and at the Herzliya Center for the Performing Arts on June 28 and 29.

TEL AVIV ANNOUNCES NEW BIKE SHARE PROGRAM

The city of Tel Aviv will launch a new bicycle share program next year. The bike system, modeled after similar programs in Paris and other European cities, will allow tourists to pick up a bicycle at one of 100 rental stations in central locations around the city and drop it off near their destination.

BEN GURION INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT SEES INCREASE IN PASSENGER TRAFFIC IN FEBRUARY 2010

Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport saw a total of 666,630 passengers in February 2010, a 20% increase compared to the same period last year. Also, a total of 40,936 passengers passed through Ben Gurion Airport on domestic flights, a 32.87% increase compared to February 2009.

EILAT TO SEE NEW OLYMPIC-SIZED ICE SKATING RINK, SPRING 2011

A new olympic-sized ice skating rink will open next year in the southern Israeli resort town of Eilat. The 19,375-square-foot rink will be built inside a new multi-level shopping mall and host ice hockey tournaments, international competitions, evening performances and offer private lessons with Israeli and international skating instructors.

JERUSALEM BIBLICAL ZOO RANKS AS TOP TOURIST DESTINATION IN ISRAEL IN RECENT POLL

The Jerusalem Biblical Zoo ranked as the most popular tourist destination of Israelis in a recent poll by Dun's 100 released last month. The Jerusalem Biblical Zoo received 738,304 visitors in 2009, a 7.4% increase compared to the previous year. Ramat Gan Safari ranked second and Masada, last year's top destination, placed third. www.jerusalemzoo.org.il/len

MELANIE DANIEL ART COLLECTION ON DISPLAY AT TEL AVIV MUSEUM OF ART

A new display, entitled "Evergreen," featuring the work of Canadian-Israeli artist Melanie Daniel, opened this month at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The exhibit showcases paintings based around the theme of camouflage and human blending into various environments. www.tamuseum.com

NEW HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR ART COLLECTION OPENS AT YAD VASHEM IN JERUSALEM

A new exhibition, entitled Virtues of Memory: Six Decades of Holocaust Survivors' Creativity, opened this month at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem. The exhibition will showcase the creative works of more than 300 Holocaust survivors, including Samuel Bak, Marcel Janco, Paul Kor and Friedel Stern, in addition to pieces created by amateur artists. www.yadvashem.com

FRESH PAINT ART FAIR SHOWCASES ISRAELI ARTISTS IN TEL AVIV, MAY 5-8

The Fresh Paint Art Fair will showcase contemporary Israeli artists at the Jaffa Harbor in Tel Aviv, May 5-8. Fresh Paint will include an artists' greenhouse featuring the works of independent Israeli artists, as well as lectures, community service projects and a video lounge highlighting an exhibition of local and Israeli artists' video works. www.freshpaint.co.il/EN

What Israel Means to Me

by David Shasha

Over the years there has been a constant spate of books containing the testimonials of American Jews proclaiming their teary-eyed and deeply emotional love of the state of Israel. These books are part of the larger program of Israeli Hasbarah, the form of advocacy that seeks to assert the total primacy of Zionism as the centerpiece of Jewish life the world over.

In order to establish what Israel means to me as a Jew, the first thing I need to do is figure out what it means to other Jews and how that relates to the reality of the Jewish past. 

American Jews have been conducting a romantic affair with an Israel whose contours are outlined in two recent movies: In Adam Sandler's comedy You Don't Mess with the Zohan and Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, we find that the American Jewish love affair with Israel is based on an almost erotic identification with the perception of Zionism and Israel as a form of revenge fantasy. Sandler's Zohan is a figure whose sexual potency rests in his skill as a Jewish superhero, a man who kills Arabs to defend the Jewish people. Similarly, Tarantino's Nazi-era fantasy is a phantasmagoria of violence in the name of Jewish self-doubt and an inferiority complex.  continued on Huffpost>>

« Israël » est l’endroit le plus dangereux pour les Juifs.

par Leila Mazboudi 

C’est le quotidien israélien Yediot Aharonot qui s’en est rendu compte, en analysant la conjoncture actuelle au Proche Orient.

Le nombre de juifs tués depuis la création de l’entité sioniste penche en faveur de ce constat: plus de 22.000 recensés dans un décompte officiel , rendu public récemment, en un peu plus de soixante années, durant plus de six guerres essentielles, sans oublier les petites guerres déclenchées principalement contre les Libanais et les Palestiniens. Sachant que celle qui a couté le plus cher en vies humaines israéliennes, la guerre de juillet 2006, (140 dont la plupart des militaires), a pour la première fois dans l’histoire des guerres, bouleversé la donne, en frappant au cœur des colonies israéliennes. Auparavant, seules les régions libanaises, palestiniennes, syriennes ou égyptiennes en bavaient. Signe que c’est mauvais signe.

Dès lors, le journal israélien précité ne peut que se rendre à l’évidence : « Israël est le seul endroit au monde où les juifs sont tués méthodiquement durant des attaques terroristes pour leur adhésion au projet sioniste ». En dépit d’une armée qui est la plus puissante de la région, les Israéliens vivent au fil des années "une hantise existentielle croissante". Alors qu’ailleurs dans le monde, constate le quotidien, « les juifs vivent dans la prospérité, jouissent d’une vie sociale riche, et participent activement à la détermination de la vie culturelle locale ». suite>>

Chavez «ne sait pas» quand il quittera le pouvoir

«Je ne sais pas», a-t-il répondu en conférence de presse à Brasilia, lors qu'on l'a interrogé sur la date à laquelle il laisserait la place à un successeur, comme le fera en janvier son hôte et homologue brésilien Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, que la loi empêche de briguer un troisième mandat.

«Tu m'as demandé quand j'ai prévu de passer le pouvoir à mon successeur? Je ne l'ai pas prévu; ce n'est pas prévu. Je n'ai pas de successeur en vue pour le moment et il n'y a pas de succession de prévue à court terme au Venezuela», a déclaré M. Chavez, aux côtés de Lula.

«Huit ans ont passé et Lula doit partir, car la Constitution brésilienne l'exige», mais ce n'est pas le cas au Venezuela où il n'y a aucune limite au nombre de mandats depuis une réforme de la Constitution adoptée l'an dernier, a poursuivi le chef de file de la gauche radicale latino-américaine.  en savoir plus>>

92Y Resource Center for Jewish Diversity

Selon l’ONU, la RDC est la capitale mondiale du viol

Droits des femmes

L'envoyée spéciale de l'ONU pour les violences faites aux femmes et aux enfants dans les conflits, Margot Wallström, a qualifié, mardi 27 avril, la RD Congo de « capitale mondiale du viol » et appelé le Conseil de sécurité à agir pour mettre un terme à ces violences, rapporte le Figaro du 28 avril 2010.

« Si les femmes continuent de subir des violences sexuelles, ce n'est pas parce que la loi n'est pas en mesure de les protéger, mais parce qu'elle est insuffisamment appliquée », a-t-elle dit devant les 15 membres du Conseil de sécurité. « Les femmes n'ont pas de droits si ceux qui violent leurs droits demeurent impunis », a-t-elle ajouté, alors qu'elle rendait compte aux membres du Conseil de sécurité de sa récente visite en RDC.

Photo : D.R.

'Les Chadoufs 1934' by Egyptian artist Mahmoud Said (1897-1964)

A woman looks at the artwork 'Les Chadoufs 1934' by Egyptian artist Mahmoud Said (1897-1964) which sold for $2,434,500, well above its pre-sale estimate of $150,000 - 200,000. EPA/ALI HAIDER.

 

 DUBAI.- Christie’s, the world’s leading art business is delighted to announce that its eighth auction of International Modern and Contemporary Art, estimated at $4.8 million, realized $15,122,125 / AED55,528,443, selling 96% by value and 86% by lot. This is an extraordinary result which reflects the quality of the sale and the passion of the collectors that Christie’s has helped to bring to this fascinating market during the past 3 years. It is extremely rare for a sale in any market to triple its pre-sale estimate. 

 

A woman takes a picture of the painting 'Sunset on the Nile at Luxor' by Egyptian Mahmoud Said (1897-1964) sold for $902,500, well above its pre-sale estimate of $80,000 - 120,000. EPA/ALI HAIDER. 

 

The top price of the sale was paid for Mahmoud Said’s (Egyptian 1897-1964) Les Chadoufs, of 1934, setting a record for any modern painting by any Middle Eastern artist, selling for an extraordinary $2,434,500 / AED8,939,484.

Mahmoud Said’s Les Chadoufs, was the highlight of 25 works from the Collection of Dr. Mohammed Said Farsi, which was a 100% sold, realizing $8,705,250 / AED 31,965,678. Twenty-one out of the twenty-five paintings sold above estimate and eight new world auction records for Egyptian artists were established (lots 21, 22, 26, 27, 32, 33, 34 and 36). more>>

Israeli Peace Activists' Open Letter to Wiesel

By Ori Nir

On the day Elie Wiesel published ads in major American newspapers, arguing that Jerusalem should not be negotiated until Israelis and Palestinian find a way to coexist in peace and security, APN sent Mr. Wiesel a response letter, pointing out some factual errors he made and suggesting that he take a tour of East Jerusalem with one of Peace Now's experts.

Wiesel, in an interview with Haaretz, said in response: " I'll certainly go and check it, I want to know the truth."

Now, a group of 100 Israeli peace activists and intellectuals sent a letter to Wiesel urging him to turn his attention from celestial Jerusalem to terrestrial Jerusalem, a city that is "crumbling under the weight of its own idealization."

Following is the full text of the letter. Some of the signatories are longtime Peace Now leaders and activist:

From Jerusalem, an open letter to Elie Wiesel

Dear Mr. Wiesel,

We write to you from Jerusalem to convey our frustration, even outrage, at your recently published letter on Jerusalem. We are Jewish Jerusalemites - residents by choice of a battered city, a city used and abused, ransacked time and again first by foreign conquerors and now by its own politicians. We cannot recognize our city in the sentimental abstraction you call by its name.

Our Jerusalem is concrete, its hills covered with limestone houses and pine trees; its streets lined with synagogues, mosques and churches. Your Jerusalem is an ideal, an object of prayers and a bearer of the collective memory of a people whose members actually bear many individual memories. Our Jerusalem is populated with people, young and old, women and men, who wish their city to be a symbol of dignity - not of hubris, inequality and discrimination.

You speak of the celestial Jerusalem; we live in the earthly

one. For more than a generation now the earthly city we call home has been crumbling under the weight of its own idealization. Your letter troubles us, not simply because it is replete with factual errors and false representations, but because it upholds an attachment to some other-worldly city which purports to supersede the interests of those who live in the this-worldly one. For every Jew, you say, a visit to Jerusalem is a homecoming, yet it is our commitment that makes your homecoming possible. We prefer the hardship of realizing citizenship in this city to the convenience of merely yearning for it.

Indeed, your claim that Jerusalem is above politics is doubly outrageous. First, because contemporary Jerusalem was created by a political decision and politics alone keeps it formally unified. The tortuous municipal boundaries of today's Jerusalem were drawn by Israeli generals and politicians shortly after the 1967 war. Feigning to unify an ancient city, they created an unwieldy behemoth, encircling dozens of Palestinian villages which were never part of Jerusalem.

Stretching from the outskirts of Ramallah in the north to the edge of Bethlehem in the south, the Jerusalem the Israeli government foolishly concocted is larger than Paris. Its historical core, the nexus of memories and religious significance often called "the Holy Basin", comprises a mere one percent of its area. Now they call this artificial fabrication 'Jerusalem' in order to obviate any approaching chance for peace.

Second, your attempt to keep Jerusalem above politics means divesting us of a future. For being above politics is being devoid of the power to shape the reality of one's life. As true Jerusalemites, we cannot stand by and watch our beloved city, parts of which are utterly neglected, being used as a springboard for crafty politicians and sentimental populists who claim Jerusalem is above politics and negotiation. All the while, they franticly "Judaize" Eastern Jerusalem in order to transform its geopolitics beyond recognition.

We invite you to our city to view with your own eyes the catastrophic effects of the frenzy of construction. You will witness that, contrary to some media reports, Arabs are not allowed to build their homes anywhere in Jerusalem. You discover see the gross inequality in allocation of municipal resources and services between east and west. We will take you to Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families are being evicted from their homes to make room for a new Jewish neighborhood, and to Silwan, where dozens of houses face demolition because of the Jerusalem Municipality's refusal to issue building permits to Palestinians.

We, the people of Jerusalem, can no longer be sacrificed for the fantasies of those who love our city from afar. This-worldly Jerusalem must be shared by the people of the two nations residing in it. Only a shared city will live up to the prophet's vision: "Zion shall be redeemed with justice". As we chant weekly in our vigils in Sheikh Jarrah: "Nothing can be holy in an occupied city!"

Respectfully,

Just Jerusalem (Sheikh Jarrah) Activists

Haiti’s Jews Try to Pick Up the Pieces

For half a century, Gilbert Bigio’s mansion was the de facto Jewish community center of Port-au-Prince.

It’s where Haiti’s only Torah scroll was kept, an Israeli flag fluttered from the rooftop and each Passover the country’s 50 or so Jews would gather for a Seder, singing, “Next year in Jerusalem.”

That beautiful mansion, with its luxurious swimming pool and a gazebo for outdoor parties, is now a collapsed pile of rubble—destroyed like countless other structures in the Jan. 12 earthquake that leveled much of this city. After the quake, Bigio managed to find the Torah scroll amidst the ruins of his house. He took it to his daughter’s undamaged home nearby for safekeeping. None of Haiti’s Jews were known to have been killed in the quake.

If tracking down Haitian Jews was hard before the earthquake, which killed an estimated 230,000 and crippled the country’s fledgling economy, these days it’s next to impossible. There’s no rabbi or functioning synagogue in the country, and land phone lines are still mostly out of service.  continued>>

Tel Aviv liberals are true Israelis too

by Aluf Benn

There is one place where Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu's warnings of an Iranian-initiated "second Holocaust" fail to reverberate, and that is Tel Aviv, Israel's business, culture and fun hub. The city is going through an unprecedented real estate explosion: its skyline is constantly rising, property prices increased by 37% last year, and new projects are snatched before they're even publicized. If Tel Avivians were afraid of Iranian nukes and missiles, like their prime minister, they would not spend millions of dollars on luxury apartments built near the Israeli Defence Forces headquarters. Or they simply don't believe Netanyahu. (ed: like most of us who use critical thinking)

Tel Aviv residents celebrate Israel Independence Day. Photograph: Oliver Weiken/EPA

With more than 3 million people in its metropolitan area, Tel Aviv is the bastion of Israel's secular liberalism, a combination of Wall Street, SoHo and Ibiza. While voting for the left, most Tel Avivians care little about the Palestinians or about the wider Middle East. The internet allows Israelis to feel plugged into the west, leapfrogging their immediate neighbourhood. And since many Tel Avivians have lived and studied abroad, travel frequently, or dream of moving elsewhere, they can get around more easily in London or Manhattan than in the more traditional parts of Israel. They would seldom visit Jerusalem, Israel's capital located 50 minutes away, viewing it as too religious, overburdened with history and politics, and generally boring. more>>

Book review: Edward Said's commitment in conversation

Robin Yassin-Kassab, The Electronic Intifada, 26 April 2010


Edward Said was one of the great public intellectuals of the 20th century -- prolific, polymathic, principled and always concerned to link theory to practice. Perhaps by virtue of his Palestinian identity, he was never an ivory tower intellectual. He never feared dirtying his hands in the messy, unwritten history of the present moment. Neither was he ever a committed member of a particular camp. Rather he offered a discomfiting, provocative, constantly critical voice. And against the postmodern grain of contemporary academia, his perspective was consistently moral, consistently worried about justice.

Said was primarily a historian of ideas. More precisely, he was interested in "discourse," the stories a society tells itself and by which it (mis)understands itself and others. His landmark book Orientalism examined the Western constructs of Islam and the "East," as depicted by Gustave Flaubert and Ernest Renan, Bernard Lewis and CNN. Said's multi-disciplinary approach, his treatment of poetry, news coverage and colonial administration documents as aspects of one cultural continuum, was hugely influential in academia, helping to spawn a host of "postcolonial" studies. Said's Culture and Imperialism expanded the focus to include Western depictions of India, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, and the literary and political "replies" of the colonized.  more>>

Retrial begins for Egyptian accused in diva murder

CAIRO — A retrial has begun for an Egyptian real estate mogul accused of hiring a hit man to murder a Lebanese pop star in her Dubai apartment.

In his first trial, Hisham Talaat Moustafa was convicted of paying a former policeman $2 million to kill his ex-girlfriend, 30-year-old singer Suzanne Tamim, in July 2008. The two men were sentenced to death, but an appeals court ordered a new trial, citing incorrect legal procedures and insufficient evidence.


On Monday, both men pleaded not guilty.

Mustafa has close ties to the centers of power. He is a member of parliament and a senior ruling party figure. The allegations against him shocked Egyptians unused to seeing powerful politicians taken to court.

The next hearing is Wednesday.

Egyptians police walk at security barrier for a court in Cairo Monday, April 26, 2010 where the new trial of Hisham Talaat Moustafa, 50, who is on trial on charges that he hired a hitman to kill Lebanese pop star Suzanne Tamim, in July 2008. One of Egypt's wealthiest businessmen Moustafa was convicted in May 2009 and sentenced to death, but an earlier court overturned the verdict and ordered a retrial. Moustafa is accused of paying a retired Egyptian police officer US$2 million to kill 30-year-old Lebanese pop star Suzanne Tamim while she was in Dubai in July 2008.(AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Iran: Cosmetics queen of the Middle East

Iranian women are some of the world’s top consumers of cosmetics and – together with men – have made Iran the Middle East’s second-largest market for makeup.

Veiled and to some degree hidden from public life, many in the West assume that Iranian women lead largely self-effacing lives.

But according to a recent study by an Iranian economics think tank, it turns out Iranian women are some of the world’s top consumers of cosmetics and – together with men – have made Iran the Middle East’s second-largest market for makeup.

Tose'e Mohandesi Bazaargostaran Ati (Future Development of Market Engineering) found that 14 million Iranians collectively spend upwards of $2 billion annually on various beauty products, accounting for 29 percent of the $7.2 billion cosmetics market in the Middle East, second only to Saudi Arabia. This makes Iran the world's seventh-largest consumer of cosmetics. more>>

Egypt a ticking time bomb

by Eric Margolis

excerpt:

The U.S. gives Egypt $1.3 billion annually in military aid to keep the generals content and about $700 million in economic aid, not counting secret CIA stipends, and vast amounts of low-cost wheat.

Mubarak’s Egypt is the cornerstone of America’s Mideast Raj (dominion). Egypt’s 469,000-man armed forces, 397,000 paramilitary police and ferocious secret police keep the regime in power and crush all dissent.

Though large, Egypt’s military is starved by Washington of modern weapons, ammo and spare parts so it cannot wage war against Israel. Its sole function is keeping the U.S.-backed regime in power.

Mubarak has long been a key ally of Israel in battling Islamist and nationalist groups. Egypt and Israel collaborate on penning up Hamas-led Palestinians in Gaza.

Egypt is now building a new steel wall on the Gaza border with U.S. assistance. Mubarak’s Wall, which will go down 12 metres, is designed to block tunnels through which Gaza Palestinians rely for supplies.

While Washington fulminates against Iran and China over human rights, it says nothing about client Egypt — where all elections are rigged, regime opponents brutally tortured and political opposition liquidated.

Read the whole article

When racism masquerades as something else

Don't let the virulent hatred of Obama's presidency - veiled in "policy differences" - fool you. Just ask someone raised around bigotry.

Carlos Dews is an author, a professor of English literature, and chairman of the Department of English Language and Literature at John Cabot University in Rome

'The nigger show."

I first heard this expression used to describe the Obama administration during a visit to my hometown in East Texas during the early summer of 2009. I understood what the epithet meant: Our minds are made up, the president lacks legitimacy, and there is nothing he can do that we will support. I was not surprised to hear such a phrase.

I grew up in the 1960s during the ragged end of the Jim Crow era, where many of the books in my school library were stamped Colored School, meaning they had been brought to the white school when the town was forced to integrate the public school system. I recall my parents had instructed me, before my first day of elementary school, not to sit in a chair where a black child had sat. And I remember my sister joked that her yearbook, when it appeared at the end of her first year of integrated high school, was in "black and white."

The outward signs of racism of my home state have now disappeared, but racial hatred remains. My father and his friends still use the word nigger to refer to all black people, and the people of my hometown don't hesitate to spout their racist rhetoric to my face, assuming I agree with them. I hold my tongue for the sake of having continued access to this kind of truth. I learned long ago how not to accept the hatred I was being taught and how to survive not having done so. More recently, I realized that I also learned another lesson: how to recognize racism when it masquerades as something else. continued>>

Rubashkin - Why should you care?

mandado por Jack Levi

con este mensaje: "Nos dirijimos a ti porque un amigo esta en enfrentando este martes la sentencia de cárcel por vida. Sin entrar en los detalles, está siendo juzgado de un modo absolutamente injusto. Quisiera pedirte 3 minutos.



ed: as usual, every time a Jew does something wrong, we point to another person who has also done wrong. as if this will whitewash the whole deal. Why can't each person be judged on their own demerits? The fact that Toyota had a problem does not diminish Rubashkin's guilt. Let's get the whole story here: it's not only the bank fraud, it's the employment of minors, the illegal employment of children in 16 hour shifts, and the less than clean "kosher" conditions at that plant. I empathize with his family and ten children. My solution is to be more honest, and procreate less."

L'extrême-droite israélienne défile à Jérusalem-Est

Quelques dizaines de militants juifs d'extrême-droite ont défilé dimanche dans le quartier arabe de Silwan, à Jérusalem-Est annexée, sous haute protection policière, pour «affirmer la souveraineté juive sur toute la ville», selon un journaliste de l'AFP.

«Nous sommes venus dire à Obama et à (l'envoyé spécial américain) George Mitchell que Jérusalem appartient au peuple juif et non aux Arabes», a déclaré Itamar Ben Gvir, l'un des organisateurs de cette marche, qui s'est déroulée sans incident.

En marge du défilé, dans un autre secteur de Silwan, quelques incidents ont éclaté après le départ des manifestants entre jeunes Palestiniens lançant des pierres et les forces de sécurité israéliennes, sans faire de blessé.  en savoir plus>>

Diverse musical ensemble bridges cultures

CHICAGO, Illinois: The arts profoundly reach our common core, transcend cultural barriers and link us together for a greater good. These are the reasons why Genesis at the Crossroads, a Chicago-based non-governmental organization dedicated to bridging cultures through the arts, created The Saffron Caravan Quartet, a musical ensemble that performed on 13 April at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC for a standing-room only audience.

Bringing together musicians from Iran, Afghanistan, Cuba, Canada and the United States, Saffron Caravan Quartet is comprised of: Humayun Khan, an Afghan vocalist and harmonium musician; Kiu Haghighi, an Iranian santour (stringed musical instrument) virtuoso; Jean-Christophe Leroy, an American-Canadian percussionist; and Grammy-award winner Howard Levy, a piano and diatonic harmonica prodigy from Chicago who is also the quartet’s musical director. continued>>

Moroccan Jews angered over demolition of building

RABAT: Jewish leaders in Morocco are angry after the government demolished a historic Jewish building in the country. According to reports from Tangier, the government razed a community-owned structure had been used as a Jewish hospital, Benchimol Hospital, which still belongs to the community.

According to government officials in Rabat, the building was condemned and the demolition had been scheduled for months.

The fact that the destruction occurred over Passover left the small Jewish community angered at what they called the government’s “insensitivity.”

Ironically, the demolition was done with the consent of the Jewish community. more>>

Club Med cancels cruise after angering Jews

French holiday group Club Med dropped a cruise to Lebanon on Thursday after angering Jewish groups by banning passengers with Israeli passport stamps since Lebanese authorities would not let them land.

The company had warned that those with Israeli visas or stamps in their passports could not board its boat, the Club Med II, for the Lebanon leg of the cruise since Lebanese authorities would bar them.

That drew a furious reaction from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an organization that campaigns against anti-Semitism, and the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France. more>>

La page francophone du Samedi

La destruction de notre Jérusalem en 1948: Avec Internet, tout le monde peut mettre en ligne ou trouver au hasard d’une recherche des documents jamais vus.

C’est le cas de ces deux photos.

Voila la legende trouvée sur le site original de Life en charge de ces archives photos:

Familles juives attendant d’etres évacuées par les troupes arabes, devant leurs maisons à Jérusalem, juin 1948. John Philips

A présent, la seconde photo

Ruines du quartier juif de Jérusalem apres destruction par les troupes arabes, juin 1948. John Philips.

Chers amis juifs et israéliens, rassurez-vous… En 48 on ne nous aimait pas plus. C’est simplement qu’en 2010 nous avons une armée pour nous défendre et éviter de revivre l’histoire de notre peuple. suite>>

Se cacher le visage, une insulte à l'humain : La femme doit être pudique, mais en même temps belle ? Quelle est réelle la volonté de D.ieu à ce sujet. (par le rav Raphael Sadin)


Belle et pudique ? Et les femmes voilées ?
Uploaded by torah-box. - News videos hot off the press.

Miami : des affiches de prévention contre l’islam sur les bus: Il s’agit certainement d’une grande première aux Etats-unis dans le domaine de l’islamo-vigilance et nous la devons au SIOA (Stop Islamisation of America) ce nouveau mouvement, pendant américain du SIOE (Stop Islamisation of Europe), dont nous vous annonçions la formation en début de ce mois, ici. Des affiches islamolucides sur les bus de Miami en Floride proposent de l’aide à ceux qui voudraient quitter l’islam.

Ces affiches qui tendent une main aux personnes désireuses de s’extraire de cette religion (En islam l’apostasie est passible de mort), circulent sur les bus de Miami, en réponse à une série de campagnes prosélytes pour l’islam sur les bus de cette même ville de Floride et d’autres grandes villes des États-Unis. suite sur Bivouac>>

Les 21 pays arabes possèdent 800 fois plus de terres qu'Israël: Pourquoi pas un gel des constructions arabes? Pourquoi est-ce que les 21 pays arabes qui possèdent plus de 800 fois de terres sont-ils si obsédés par Israël?

Quand ma petite-fille de deux ans assiste à toute cette agitation qu'elle ne peut pas comprendre, elle se tourne vers moi dans l'expectative d'un éclaircissement : "De quoi parlent-ils, Bubbe?". À l'heure actuelle, il faudrait que je lui avoue que le brouhaha que suscite la construction de 1.600 nouveaux logements à Jérusalem défie toute explication rationnelle. suite>>

Mères colère: En Amérique du Nord, les «Raging Grannies» se mobilisent pour un monde meilleur. Un documentaire sur ces grand-mères peu ordinaires vient d’être présenté au Québec. Portrait de vieilles dames qui n’ont pas peur de fouler le pavé.

Elles affectionnent particulièrement les bureaux de recrutement de l’armée et les expositions de ventes d’armes. Mais leur cible favorite reste le premier ministre canadien, Stephen Harper. Pour exprimer leur désaccord face à sa manière de gérer le pays, elles n’hésitent pas à prendre des risques. Quitte à se faire embarquer par la police.
en savoir plus>>

Taslima Nasreen, sans foi ni toit: Toujours visée par les fatwas, exilée et traquée, l’écrivaine bangladaise Taslima Nasreen conserve sa virulence athée et féministe. Rencontre
On rirait presque de tant d’innocence. «Je ne comprends pas pourquoi les gens disent que je suis radicale!» s’étonne Taslima Nasreen. Vêtue tout en sobriété sombre et de soies mêlées, elle est assise, calme et posée, dans un discret hôtel parisien sous les yeux aguerris de quatre gardes du corps. Elle vient d’expliquer en détail comment «la religion empoisonne tout, crée des souffrances, de l’exploitation, encage les femmes et nie leurs droits». suite>>

Vers l'interdiction totale de la burqa en... Belgique: Les députés belges ont adopté ce mercredi en commission une proposition de loi prévoyant l'interdiction totale du voile islamique intégral, y compris sur la voie publique. Le vote final pourrait avoir lieu dès le 22 avril.


"C'est un signal très fort envoyé aux islamistes". Le député libéral francophone Denis Ducarme se dit "fier" que la Belgique soit le premier pays européen à oser légiférer sur le port de la burqa. Alors que la France débat encore sur le problème et les points qu'elle devrait ou non intégrer dans une éventuelle future loi, la Belgique a en effet pris les devants ce mercredi. Les députés, Flamands comme Wallons, ont en effet voté en commission de l'Intérieur une proposition de loi prévoyant l'interdiction totale du voile intégral, y compris sur la voie publique. suite>>

Le cube qui fait trembler Neuchâtel: Mille ans. Voilà mille ans que les Neuchâtelois cultivent leur réputation de taiseux. En pleins préparatifs de cet honorable anniversaire, ils ne dérogent pas à la règle. Depuis le début de la semaine, le chef-lieu du canton bruisse d'une méchante affaire: le président de l'Association du Millénaire a démissionné séance tenante, car il refuse de cautionner un des projets d'expo présélectionnés pour les festivités agendées en 2011.

Symbole du pèlerinage musulman
Ce projet aurait «une connotation religieuse», mais personne ne veut en dire plus, ont expliqué tour à tour Le Temps et le quotidien local L'Express. Titillé par tant de mystère, «Le Matin» n'a pas eu beaucoup de peine à découvrir ce qui fait trembler Neuchâtel. Il s'agit d'une oeuvre abstraite en forme de cube noir, qui fait référence en grandeur nature à la Kaaba, le monument de La Mecque autour duquel les pèlerins musulmans doivent tourner sept fois. en savoir plus>>

Ehud Olmert, officiellement réfugié politique au Liechtenstein: L’ancien Premier ministre israélien Ehud Olmert, a obtenu hier soir 31 mars l’asile politique au Liechtenstein. Poursuivi par la justice israélienne sur une dizaine d’affaires de corruption, Ehud Olmert, ainsi que son épouse, qui sont actuellement en vacances aux Seychelles, se rendront directement à Vaduz, capitale de la Principauté du Lichtenstein, sans repasser par Israël.

C’est la première fois dans l’histoire de l’Etat hébreu, qu’un ancien chef de gouvernement sollicite – et obtient – l’asile politique dans un pays tiers. Lors de la dernière année de son mandat ministériel, Ehud Olmert n’était soutenu que par 15% des Israéliens. La Principauté du Liechtenstein est régentée par le Prince Hans-Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein. Cette Principauté est limitrophe de la Suisse et de l’Autriche. suite>>

Eurabia par la barbe du prophète ! : Deux mahométans ont été interpellés à la suite d'affrontements entre la police et des mahométans qui voulaient « prier » dans la cathédrale andalouse de Cordoue, en Espagne.

L'affrontement a éclaté le mercredi saint, quand une partie d'un groupe de 118 mahométans se sont mis à « prier » dans la cathédrale espagnole. Ils ont été interrompus par les gardiens qui les ont invités à continuer leur visite ou à quitter la cathédrale. L'évêque Demetrio Fernandez Gonzalez a récemment renouvelé l'interdiction de prier dans la cathédrale faite aux mahométans. suite>>

A l'intérieur de la synagogue de la Hourva reconstruite: Elle a été durant des décennies, la plus belle et la plus grande des synagogues d'Eretz Israël. Détruite par deux fois, en 1721 et en 1948, la 'Hourva de rabbi Yéhouda Ha'hassid, située en plein cœur du quartier juif de Jérusalem, retrouve sa splendeur après sept années de travaux de rénovation et de reconstruction. A l'instar du Mishkan (Tabernacle), cette splendide synagogue, ce « Mikdach Méate » a été inauguré solonnellement le jour de roch 'hodech Nissan.



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Le patrimoine oublié des Juifs de France: Laurence Sigal-Klagsbald (Directrice du Musée d'art et d'histoire du judaïsme à Paris) et Paul Salmona (Directeur du développement culturel à l'Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives) ont fait paraître récemment dans Le Monde, un article prouvant que, peut-être, la France commence à prendre conscience de l'existence d'un passé juif en son sein également.

Nécropoles antiques, cimetières médiévaux, synagogues, bains rituels, écoles talmudiques, juiveries, carrières en Provence, calles en Catalogne : l'essor de l'archéologie préventive au cours des vingt dernières années a révélé une myriade de vestiges qui rappellent que des communautés juives vécurent en Europe, depuis l'Antiquité jusqu'au Moyen Age. suite>>

TRAVEL TO SPAIN / JULY 4 - 13, 2010

TRAVEL TO SPAIN

ITINERARY [Click here for a detailed itinerary] APPLICATION FORM [Click here to print application] The Roots of Sefarad  July 4 - 13, 2010 Discover the rich Jewish heritage of Spain Tour the Jewish quarters of medieval communities Explore the country that was home to Maimonides, Abarbanel, and Yehuda Halevi   Join the American Sephardi Federation in collaboration with Congregation Edmond J. Safra and Ramaz/KJ In medieval times, Spain was home to one of the largest and most distinguished Jewish communities in the world. Under Moorish rule, a Golden Age for Muslims, Christians and Jews flourished in Spain. Contact with Northern European and Middle Eastern Jewish communities led to a co-mingling of diverse Jewish traditions. An exceptionally vibrant intellectual and cultural life resulted in the Sephardic customs and ceremonies that are practiced today. The Roots of Sefarad -- a journey through 15 centuries of Jewish history, scholarship, culture, and art, is a passage through Jewish memory. It is a journey that will take you from the past through to the present. Rabbi Elie Abadie, MD, of Congregation Edmond J. Safra and Rabbi Haskel Lookstein of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun will lead you through this journey, accompanied by professional tour guides.  This nine-day, eight-night excursion will provide a glimpse into this rich Sephardic heritage, and will provide first-hand knowledge of the once thriving communal and spiritual lives of the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula. It will also introduce you to the Jewish Spain of today, a population that has grown over the past decade, as we will learn in meetings and receptions with representatives of the Jewish communities, Spanish diplomats and government officials. Two educational/orientation programs will be held prior to departure, with call-in options for those who live outside the New York area. Cost:  Price includes five star hotels, three Glatt Kosher meals daily, transfers, deluxe buses and high speed trains, entries to sites, all gratuities, security and guides.  $3,995 per person (plus optional single supplement of $850) for the land portion of this escorted trip to Spain $1,050 per person economy fare to Spain, with a $1,000 supplement per person for business class travel Those who wish to make their own travel arrangements can meet us in Madrid. This will allow those interested to customize their travel arrangements. Deposit: A deposit of $1,000 per person is required by April 27, 2010 for those using the land package only. A deposit of $1,250 per person is required by April 27, 2010 for those using our group flights and the land package. An additional deposit of $200 per person is required for those requiring a single room. Contact Us For more information or to register, contact Ellen Cohen at 212-294-8350 x4 or ecohen@asf.cjh.org.  15 West 16th Street New York City, New York 10011