From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
BBC TV’s director fears for the future of Jews in the UK
Danny Cohen, the director of television at the BBC, is usually in the news to talk about the next big thing in British television. He is known for helping commission popular British shows such as the coming-of-age sitcom “The Inbetweeners” and the BAFTA award-winning “Skins.” Now he oversees the BBC’s four main channels.
However, on Sunday, Cohen gave the discussion about anti-Semitism in Europe a potent jolt.
“I’ve never felt so uncomfortable being a Jew in the UK as I’ve felt in the last 12 months,” Cohen told Israeli television anchor Yonit Levi at a conference in Jerusalem. “And it’s made me think about, you know, is it our long-term home, actually. Because you feel it. I’ve felt it in a way I’ve never felt before.”
Cohen is a native Londoner who has lived in the UK his entire life. A month and a half earlier, Parliament’s opposition leader, Ed Milliband, posted about the rise of British anti-Semitism on Facebook.
Amid spikes in anti-Semitism across Europe, anti-Semitic incidents in England skyrocketed during the war in Gaza this summer.
Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Israeli forces target Palestinian fishermen off Gaza
Israeli gunboats have opened fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the northern coast of the Gaza Strip as the Tel Aviv regime’s aggression against Palestinians in the besieged sliver continues unabated.
Witnesses said Israeli forces fired shots at Palestinian fishermen near the shores of Gaza City on Friday, forcing the fishing boats to return. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
On December 3, Israeli warships targeted Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of the Gaza Strip, seriously wounding a fisherman.
The fisherman, identified as 32-year-old Fakher Nizar Abu Riyaleh, was critically injured in the head by shrapnel from Israeli shells. He was taken to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City to receive medical treatment.
Click here for the full story
From PressTV
1000-plus Palestinians killed in Syria: Embassy
Around 1200 to 1300 Palestinians are confirmed killed and as many missing in Syria during the ongoing conflict, says the Palestinian Embassy in Damascus.
Syria has been grappling with a deadly crisis since March 2011. The violence fuelled by Takfiri groups has so far claimed the lives of over 200,000 people, according to reports.
During the initial stages of the crisis, Palestinians in Syria remained relatively uninvolved, said head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) delegation to Syria Ahmad Majdalani.
The situation, however, changed when armed groups moved into the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, directly involving the camp in the war.
In February, the United Nations warned that food and basic supplies were running dangerously low in the camp.
Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Lebanon army thwarts infiltration attempt by terrorists
The Lebanese army says its forces have foiled a terrorists’ plot to infiltrate the country through the northeastern town of Arsal on the border with violence-hit Syria.
The army said in a statement on Friday that Lebanese troops repelled an attempt by a group of gunmen to sneak into Lebanon near an army base in Wadi Hmeid, an area on the outermost edge of Arsal situated 124 kilometers (77 miles) northeast of the capital, Beirut.
The statement added that Lebanese government forces engaged in an exchange of fire with the infiltrators, shooting dead three of them.
A Syrian militant from the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front terror group, identified as Adham Shedad, was among the slain gunmen.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Daily Forward
Man Booted From Plane in ‘Merry Christmas’ Fracas
Grinchy Passenger Objected To Holiday Greetings
“Don’t say ‘Merry Christmas,’” the grumpy traveler told flight attendants on the Dallas-bound flight on Thursday, the New York Post reported.
The man, who was not named, was escorted off the flight after he refused to calm down. Other passengers cheered as security took him away.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Daily Forward
Labor Quakes As Scandal Shakes Lieberman Party
By J.J. Goldberg
All bets are off regarding the outcome of Israel’s March elections, thanks to a massive corruption investigation involving senior figures in Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party. See the details here.
Early signs suggest it could cripple his political career, even though he hasn’t been implicated. And it might badly hurt the chances of the Labor-Livni alliance to lead the next government.
More than two dozen people were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in a huge bribery and kickback scheme. They include a deputy cabinet minister, a former cabinet minister, top party officials and numerous current and former local government heads and non-profit managers. Allegations include demanding and paying kickbacks in return for government budgets and contracts as well as hiring relatives of government and party officials.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Daily Forward
Conflict Kitchen Stirs the Pot in Pittsburgh
Pop-Up Caught in Controversy Over Palestinian Food
By Aruna D’Souza
But this time was different: the anger over their decision to engage Palestinian food and politics boiled over into a media frenzy, an attack by B’nai Brith, a bungled response by a local arts foundation, and eventually death threats that shut down the restaurant for a few days in November.
The idea behind Conflict Kitchen was simple. Rubin, an artist and assistant professor of art at Carnegie Mellon, and Weleski, a multidisciplinary artist, work in the realm of social practice art, which is concerned with creating experiences in daily life, community-building, and activism, and often blurs the boundaries between art and the everyday. They were seeking to create a place where people could have conversations about politics and culture. They figured that food would be the easiest way to lure people into these conversations — “a way to get people through the door,” says Waleski.
From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
French Jewish students slammed for alleged Bennett snub
(JTA) — The head of France’s umbrella of Jewish organizations criticized a left-leaning affiliate body for allegedly refusing to meet a visiting Israeli cabinet minister.
Roger Cukierman, president of the CRIF umbrella body, criticized the Union of Jewish Students of France, or UEJF, for allegedly refusing a request by Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett to meet with UEJF representatives during his visit to France in October, the news site JSSnews.com reported Wednesday.
UEJF, one of France’s most active and prominent Jewish groups, denied claims they had declined for political reasons to meet Bennett, who heads the rightist Jewish Home party.
“I think they were wrong,” Cukierman said of UEJF. “If they refused to meet him, they were absolutely wrong.”
Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Israeli troops arrest 25 Palestinians across West Bank
Israeli forces have abducted at least 25 Palestinians, including five teenagers, during separate raids on a number of houses across the occupied West Bank.
On Thursday evening, Israeli troopers detained 14 Palestinians in the town of Azzoun, situated 9 kilometers (5.5 miles) west of the West Bank city of Qalqilya, on suspicion of being involved in a Molotov cocktail attack on a settler’s vehicle nearby.
The attack reportedly left two Israeli injured, including an 11-year-old girl, earlier in the day.
Israeli troops also stormed a number of Palestinian houses in al-Issawiya and Sur Baher neighborhoods of East al-Quds (Jerusalem) on Thursday, arresting five Palestinian teenage boys identified as Hasan Jamjum, Ali Ahmad Darwish, Ahmad Uweisa, Khalid Jadallah and Muhsin Attun.
Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Army forces deal heavy blows to militants across Syria
The Syrian army continues its intensive operations against foreign-backed militants in the country, inflicting major losses on their ranks.
Military operations against terrorist groups continued intensively on Thursday, targeting their vehicle convoys, hideout and gatherings in different cities in Syria.
Units of the army dealt heavy blows to the terrorists’ hideouts, killing and injuring many of them including the militants in Damascus suburbs.
The army also killed and injured many terrorists and destroyed a number of their vehicles in the central province of Homs.
Click here for the full story
