July 31, 2010

Le Printemps des Sayanim

Interview de l’auteur : Jacob Cohen
Pourquoi ce titre ?
J’ai voulu que le terme « sayanim » apparaisse d’emblée et interpelle le lecteur. On se pose la question, et la définition se trouve juste dans les premières lignes de la 4e. La problématique est installée, sans faux-fuyants, et sans réserve. Idéalement, j’aimerais que ce terme entre dans le vocabulaire courant, dans les analyses, et dans les commentaires.
 Voulez-vous nous la rappeler ?
Les sayanim – informateurs en hébreu – sont des juifs de la diaspora qui, par « patriotisme », acceptent de collaborer ponctuellement avec le Mossad, ou autres institutions sionistes, leur apportant l’aide nécessaire dans le domaine de leur compétence.



Comment avez-vous eu l’idée d’écrire sur les sayanim ?
C’est la conjugaison de plusieurs éléments. La lecture de tout livre sérieux sur le Mossad montre l’importance essentielle de ces citoyens juifs qui décident de travailler pour les services secrets israéliens. Imaginez des dizaines de milliers d’agents, occupant des fonctions dans toutes les couches sociales, et qui obéissent au doigt et à l’œil au Mossad. Il est à noter que les auteurs anglo-saxons sont beaucoup plus prolifiques sur ce sujet. Je suis d’assez près l’actualité proche-orientale, et je consulte les médias des 2 bords. Et je suis sidéré, presque fasciné, par la puissance médiatique du lobby pro-israélien. Et comment il arrive à faire rentrer dans les esprits, jusqu’à devenir des banalités admises, des concepts comme « la seule démocratie de la région », ou tellement aberrants, comme « assurer la sécurité d’Israël ».  suite de l'interview.

Obama courtise l'électorat féminin



(New York) Après avoir heurté les traditionalistes en devenant en mars 2009 le premier président en exercice à participer à un talk-show de fin de soirée (celui du comique Jay Leno), Barack Obama vient de créer un autre précédent du même genre en acceptant une invitation à l'émission The View, un talk-show diffusé en matinée sur ABC et animé par un quintette féminin dont font partie la journaliste Barbara Walters et l'actrice Whoopi Goldberg. en savoir plus>>

Droits de l'homme: l'ONU critique sévèrement Israël

Ils ont également reproché aux autorités israéliennes d'imposer aux Palestiniens de «fréquentes» démolitions de maisons et d'écoles en Cisjordanie et à Jérusalem-Est. Sur la photo, une maison est démolie dans Jérusalem-Est, le 10 juillet 2010.  
PHOTO: AP
Les 18 experts du Comité ont aussi demandé aux autorités israéliennes de lever le blocus de la bande de Gaza et ont mis en doute le caractère indépendant de l'enquête menée par Israël sur l'arraisonnement d'une flottille d'aide pour Gaza au cours duquel neuf militants turcs ont été tués.
Le Comité, qui examine l'application de la Convention internationale pour les droits civils et politiques, a également exhorté les autorités israéliennes à mettre un terme aux discriminations dont sont victimes les Palestiniens.
Israël «doit s'assurer que tous les cas allégués de torture et de traitements cruels, inhumains ou dégradants, ainsi que de recours disproportionné à la force par les forces de l'ordre, y compris la police, les services de sécurité et les forces armées, font l'objet d'enquêtes rapides, complètes et indépendantes», ont demandé les experts du Comité. suite>>

Berkeley and Palo Alto Opening Day


SFJFF PRESENTS:
Saturday, July 31st
FESTIVAL MOVES TO BERKELEY AND PALO ALTO TODAY




Saturday, July 31, 2010 Film Schedule


RODA THEATRE (@ BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE)
12:00pm Bena 
2:00pm Arab Labor: Season 2, with guest
4:30pm Utopia in Four Movements- with live performance
7:00pm Berkeley Opening Night Celebration:
The Klezmatics: On Holy Ground with guest
9:45pm Protektor

Berkeley Run: The Roda Theatre (at Berkeley Repertory Theatre)- Saturday, July 31st - Saturday, August 7th

CINEARTS @PALO ALTO SQUARE, PALO ALTO

12:00pm A Small Act  


SFJFF PRESENTS:

Sat. Jul 31st, 2010 @ 4:30 PM 
Live Narrated Documentary:
Utopia in Four MovementsJoin us in Berkeley for an epic multimedia performance piece by Academy Award nominee Sam Green (The Weather Underground).

Utopia in Four Movements
Dave Cerf, Sam Green
2010, USA 
English
Utopia in Four Movements is a multimedia performance piece by Academy Award nominee Sam Green (The Weather Underground) and aural mix-master Dave Cerf. Originally conceived as a work-in-progress for a still uncompleted film, Utopia has evolved instead into a one-of-a-kind stage show that threads together a century's worth of dizzying sounds and images into a deeply moving meditation on our world's seemingly shrinking idealism.

The Roda Theatre (@Berkeley Rep)
2025 Addison St., Berkeley CA
To purchase tickets, click here

SFJFF PRESENTS:
BERKELEY OPENING NIGHT CELEBRATION
THE KLEZMATICS: ON HOLY GROUND
SPECIAL GUESTS: FILMMAKER ERIC GREENBERG ANJOU AND SURPRISE GUESTS

Klezmatics: On Holy Ground
By Erik Greenberg Anjou
2010, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Poland, USA
English, Yiddish, w/Eng. Subtitles

Defying categorization, the geniuses of world music/klezmer fusion known as the Klezmatics have been breaking ground by continually redefining Jewish music for more than 20 years. Now they get their own movie: part concert film, part backstage drama, part affectionate lesson in remixing Yiddish culture, klezmer, gospel and Woody Guthrie. Join members of the band and the director for a festive Berkeley Opening Night Sat, July 31 2010, 7:00pm, features a post-film reception in the Roda courtyard.

The Roda Theatre (@Berkeley Rep)
2025 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA

Click here to watch the trailer
For more information about the film, click here
To purchase tickets now, click here  
or call 866-558-4253.

SFJFF PRESENTS:
Also Screening in Berkeley Today
ARAB LABOR SEASON 2
Saturday, July 31 at 2:00PM

Arab Labor Sayed Kashua and Shay Capon received a standing ovation at the SF screening. Meet Sayed in person today at the Roda Theatre for the Berkeley screening of Arab Labor Season 2. 
The beloved Alian family returns in season two of this delightfully provocative and wildly popular Israeli sitcom. When father Amjad moves into a Jewish neighborhood, he is mistaken for a terrorist-and an IDF soldier. Watch three new episodes fresh from the editing room and find out why we call series writer and SFJFF Freedom of Expression Award winner Sayed Kashua the Arab Israeli incarnation of Woody Allen and Dave Chapelle. Click here to purchase tickets.Click here to watch the trailer
BenaBENA 
Sat, July 31 2010, 12:00pm
This is the gripping story of three fragile souls whose lives intersect at the border between loneliness and desperation. Amos, a widower, hires Bena, an undocumented Thai immigrant, to care for his schizophrenic son Yurik. When both Amos and Yurik fall for her, Bena is caught in a disturbing love triangle. Click here for tickets. Click here to watch the trailer.

ProtektorPROTEKTOR
Sat, July 31 2010, 9:45pm
Czech, w/Eng. Subtitles
Set in German-occupied Prague, this visually stunning, highly original thriller explores how much we might compromise for love. Emil accepts a job promotion to be the on-air voice of the Nazi propaganda in order to protect Hana, his Jewish wife. Meanwhile, Hana's glamorous life as a movie star comes to an abrupt end. Hana rebels against Emil's attempts to control her and sets out on some dangerous adventures. Click here for tickets. Click here to watch the trailer. Click here for more information about the film.

SFJFF PRESENTS:
SAVIORS IN THE NIGHTLudi Boeken
SPECIAL GUEST: Director Ludi Boeken 
in Palo Alto
Saturday, July 31 at 6:45PM

SaviorsBased on true events, this bravura drama (which received a standing ovation at the Castro Theatre) powerfully records one memorable instance of moral courage under desperate conditions. Menne Spiegel, a German Jew, meets his old army comrade Heinrich Aschoff on the eve of a mass deportation of Jews in 1943. Aschoff, a Catholic farmer with a conscience, agrees to shelter Spiegel's wife Marga and their daughter in spite of the deadly risk to his own family. Saviors in the Night, based on Marga's best-selling memoir, relates the extraordinary true story of the families' perilous years together. Click here to watch the trailer. Click here for tickets or call 866-558-4253.
CineArts @Palo Alto Square
3000 El Camino Real Bldg. #6, Palo Alto

SFJFF PRESENTS:

A FILM UNFINISHED
SPECIAL GUEST: FILMMAKER YAEL HERSONSKI
Saturday, July 31 at 4:15PM


Film Unfinished
Filmmaker Yael Hersonski discovers that the Warsaw Ghetto footage that we've seen in countless documentaries was actually staged by the Nazis using the actual Jewish inhabitants of the Ghetto as "actors." A Film Unfinished is a rigorous and profound documentary that simultaneously exposes the perversity of Nazi propaganda, honors its victims and pays tribute to the resiliency of the filmmaker's own grandmother and the other survivors of the Ghetto.


Click here to view the trailer
For more information,  click here
To purchase tickets screening, click here or call 866-558-4253.


CineArts @Palo Alto Square
3000 El Camino Real Bldg. #6, Palo Alto

SFJFF PRESENTS:
Also Screening in Palo Alto Today
A Small ActA SMALL ACT
Saturday, July 31 at 12:00PMCan a single act of generosity transform a life? As a poor Kenyan boy, Chris Mburu's life changed forever when a Jewish schoolteacher in Sweden anonymously sponsored his education. Today a Harvard-educated lawyer, he honors his benefactor (and now friend) by providing scholarships in her name to a new generation of promising but desperately poor Kenyan children. Click here for more information. Click here for tickets. Click here to watch the trailer. 

JEWS AND BASEBALL: AN AMERICAN LOVE STORY
Sat, July 31 2010, 2:00pm
Not particularly known in the United States for their athletic prowess, Jews have surprisingly excelled in the most American of sports: baseball. Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story, narrated by Dustin Hoffman, celebrates the contributions of Jewish major leaguers and the special meaning baseball has had in the lives of American Jews. Click here for more information. Click here for tickets. 

FATHER'S FOOTSTEPS
Sat, July 31 2010, 9:00pm
Close-knit, loving and in for a heap of trouble, the Tunisian-Israeli Maimon family arrives in mid-1970s Paris footloose and free with only a VW bus to its name. Much to the dismay of suffering mom Mireille (Yaël Abacassis), hapless father Felix (Gad Elmaleh) soon gets mixed up with local crime boss Serge, forcing their sons to grow up too soon. This smartly written feature was nominated for five Israeli Academy Awards (Ophir Awards). Click here for more information. Click here to purchase tickets. 

Istanbul's Pera Palace to Reopen and Seek Return to Glory Era

The ceiling of the main hall in Pera Palace hotel is seen, in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, July 30, 2010. It was the last stop on the Orient Express, a grand hotel with Istanbul's first electric elevator where artists and aristocrats sipped champagne beneath chandeliers as the Ottoman Empire dissolved and the world drifted toward war. On Sept. 1, the Pera Palace will re-open after a two-year restoration that cost euro23 million ($30 million), seeking to capture the lost sparkle of what was one of Istanbul's most prominent landmarks. AP Photo/Ibrahim Usta.

ISTANBUL (AP).- It was the last stop on the Orient Express, a grand hotel with Istanbul's first electric elevator where artists and aristocrats sipped champagne beneath chandeliers as the Ottoman Empire dissolved and the world drifted toward war. 

Mata Hari, accused of spying and executed in France in 1917, stayed at the Pera Palace Hotel. So did Greta Garbo, who played the shadowy dancer in a 1931 movie. Ernest Hemingway checked in to report on war between Turks and Greeks. Agatha Christie is said to have crafted "Murder on the Orient Express" in Room 411. 

Then, like the empire it outlived, the hotel slid into decay. 
continued>>

Elvis Presley's White Knabe Grand Piano Expected to Bring $1,000,000+ at Auction

Elvis Presley's white grand piano which is going up for auction in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, on 14 August 2010, expected to fetch more than 1 million dollars (767,000 Euros) auctioneers have said. The white Knabe piano was owned and played by Presley for a decade. The singer bought it in 1957 from the Ellis auditorium in Memphis where it had been played by visiting gospel performers for more than 20 years. The piano was placed in Graceland's music room until 1969. EPA/HERITAGE AUCTIONS.  read more>>

C'est arrivé le 31 juillet...Champollion s'embarque pour l'Egypte

1828
31 juillet L'égyptologue français Jean-François Champollion, 38 ans, qui n'a jamais foulé la terre des pharaons, réalise son rêve en partant à la tête d'une expédition scientifique en Egypte. Pendant deux années, il ne cessera de lire et de traduire les textes anciens. A son retour, il publiera "Description de l'Egypte" et "Monuments d'Egypte et de Nubie", qui deviendront des ouvrages de référence pour les égyptologues. Champollion a acquis sa renommée mondiale en 1822, en déchiffrant les hiéroglyphes figurant sur lapierre de Rosette, découverte 23 ans plus tôt.
Voir aussi : Dossier histoire des découvertes archéologiques -Champollion - Hiéroglyphes - Pierre de rosette - Histoire de l'Archéologie - Histoire de l'Egypte - Histoire de France - Le 31 Juillet -Année 1828 

Human Rights Watch Review

Logo

Immigrants with Mental Disabilities Face Higher Risk of Unjust Deportation
Some Detainees Don't Know Their Own Names, Can't Tell Time
In the United States, immigrants with mental disabilities facing deportation have no right to a lawyer — even if they are incapable of representing themselves without assistance. Whether a detainee with a mental disability is able to receive a fair hearing is rarely considered. As a result, the person faces a higher risk of unjust deportation, or simply gets lost in the system.
Some detainees have disabilities so severe that they don’t know their own names or what a judge is, or can’t tell time, said Human Rights Watch in a report issued jointly with the American Civil Liberties Union.
We estimate that at least 57,000 detained immigrants facing deportation in 2008 — 15 percent of the total — had mental disabilities. People with valid claims to fight deportation — including US citizenship — have still been deported because they were unable to  present evidence to defend their claim.
Judges receive little guidance in how to handle these cases.
“I feel so impotent and so powerless,” said one immigration judge. “I sit there thinking, is anybody looking at this the same way I am? Why is this person in my courtroom? Why have I been asked to do this?”
Read more »
Photo: © 2009 Michael Schennum
 
HRW Analysis of WikiLeaks
Documents Show US Under-Reported Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan
The WikiLeaks disclosure of 90,000 documents shows that US and NATO officials in Afghanistan relied on initial or “spot” reports of civilian casualties in major incidents and have resisted revising figures upward when more reliable information was produced.
Additionally, the United States should investigate previously undisclosed incidents where Afghan civilians were killed.
The leaked documents highlight how initial field reporting on civilian casualties was sometimes treated as accurate by US and NATO officials, even when contradicted by later credible reports. While mistakes in battlefield casualty reports are inevitable, Human Rights Watch research suggests that in some instances of high civilian casualties — and perhaps in less-publicized cases — those inaccurate assessments are not corrected and become part of the official narrative.
Though there have been some efforts by the US military to address problems in the internal reporting system, accountability mechanisms should be strengthened whenever there are civilian losses.
US and NATO forces also claimed that revised operational guidelines have reduced civilian casualties like those revealed in the leaked documents. However, Human Rights Watch has investigated cases in recent months that still show a resistance to acknowledging civilian deaths and injury when they do occur. For instance, the US still says no civilians died during a nighttime attack in May in which there is credible evidence that nine civilians were killed. Human Rights Watch has urged the United States to investigate.
Read our further analysis of the data »
The Week In Rights
JULY 29, 2010
MOST POPULAR HEADLINES
Israel: Withdraw Legislation Punishing Human Rights Activists Israel's Knesset should reject proposed legislation that would weaken the country's vibrant civil society, Human Rights Watch said today. Recent proposed bills wouldpenalize human rights groups for critical reporting and advocacy, including publicizing information on war crimes, expressing support for boycotts, or helping refugees and asylum seekers.
India: Press Burmese Leader on Human Rights   
India's long democratic tradition should bolster leaders' ability to insist on a free and fair election in Burma. New Delhi should use Than Shwe’s visit to send a message loud and clear that Burma’s failure to respect human rights and establish genuine democracy retards Burma’s development and creates political difficulties for India and other states in the region.
The Netherlands: Do Not Deport Somalis Mogadishu is one of the world's most dangerous places. Returning people there is not just risky; it's a potential death sentence. The Dutch authorities should quickly reconsider this plan, which is at odds with their obligation to protect those whose lives are at risk.

EDITOR'S PICKS
Arizona: US Court Blocks Immigration Law’s Worst Aspects 
The federal court ruling throws a monkey wrench, at least temporarily, into the worst parts of a discriminatory law. In truth, Arizona needs to repeal the whole thing, and similar bills under consideration in other states should be defeated.
Singapore: Legal Charges Threat to Freedom of Expression Singapore officials should cease using criminal defamation and contempt laws to silence government critics. The arrest of Alan Shadrake, the 75-year-old British author ofOnce A Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock, a critical review of Singapore's death penalty law and its administration, further narrows the space for reporting and analysis of issues the government prefers to keep under tight control.
Good News: End in Sight for Infamous US Crack Cocaine Laws 
Legislation approved by the House on July 28, 2010, will dramatically alter the historically more punitive approach to federal crack cocaine offenders that led to racial disparities in sentencing. The bill, which the Senate passed in March, is on its way to President Barack Obama for his signature.