From The Times of Israel
Palestinian killed in clash with IDF near Bethlehem
Army says 19-year-old led group of rioters, but his family claims he wasn’t involved; soldier wounded in exchange
February 24, 2015, 8:28 am
A 19-year-old Palestinian man was shot dead by IDF soldiers during unrest at a refugee camp near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Palestinian medics said Tuesday.
The IDF said the Palestinians in the area had hurled stones and makeshift explosives at the troops.
Jihad al-Jafari, a supporter of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement, was killed in the overnight confrontation at the Deheishe camp, the medics said.
A spokeswoman for the IDF said that troops were attacked by Palestinians throwing stones and incendiary devices, adding that one soldier was wounded.
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From The Times of Israel
On foreign policy, Jeb Bush navigates between brother and father
Prospective GOP candidate brings staffers from both administrations on board, sending mixed messages on his philosophy
February 24, 2015, 4:49 am
WASHINGTON (JTA) — As clearly as Jeb Bush has stated that he does not want his foreign policy chops assessed against that of his brother — or his father — his choice in advisers has only made things murkier.
Of 21 advisers to the former Florida governor and putative presidential candidate named last week, just two did not work for President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993 or for George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009. And one of those, former Secretary of State George Schultz, was close to Bush’s father when they both were in the Reagan Cabinet.
And because the Georges Bush, father and son, have such disparate records on the Middle East, pro-Israel groups already are picking through the choices and trying to assess which way Jeb Bush leans.
“His father’s [administration] was known as cooler to Israel, his brother’s as warmer,” said Dov Zakheim, who worked in the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations.
Among the advisers are James Baker, the elder Bush’s secretary of state who is known to have said “F*** the Jews” when another Cabinet member suggested that the Jewish vote should factor into a consideration of Israel policy. Baker also openly taunted then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir with the White House phone number, saying Shamir should call when the Israeli leader was ready to talk peace.
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
Benjamin Netanyahu Says No to Meeting With Democratic Senators
Israeli Premier Snubs ‘Partisan’ Meeting Ahead of Speech
(Reuters) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined on Tuesday an invitation to meet with U.S. Senate Democrats during his trip to Washington next week.
“Though I greatly appreciate your kind invitation to meet with Democratic Senators, I believe that doing so at this time could compound the misperception of partisanship regarding my upcoming visit,” Netanyahu wrote in a letter to Senators Richard Durbin and Dianne Feinstein obtained by Reuters.
Durbin and Feinstein, two senior Senate Democrats, invited Netanyahu to a closed-door meeting with Democratic senators in a letter on Monday, warning that making U.S.-Israeli relations a partisan political issue could have “lasting repercussions.”
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From Ynet News
NYC, Orthodox Jews in talks over oral suction circumcision
Following 17 cases of infant herpes since 2000, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration is negotiating with a group of rabbis over how to protect children’s health while still preserving religious freedom. With a swift swipe of his scalpel, Rabbi A. Romi Cohn circumcises the baby boy, then leans down and sucks the blood from the wound as prayers in Hebrew fill the Brooklyn synagogue.
The Orthodox Jewish tradition known as oral suction circumcision reaches back to biblical times but it has created a modern-day dilemma for New York City health officials, who have linked it to 17 cases of infant herpes since 2000. Two infants died and two others suffered brain damage.
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, which came into power a year ago with a promise to reconsider an existing regulation on the ritual, is now negotiating with a group of rabbis over how to protect children’s health while still preserving religious freedom.
From the Jewish Daily Forward
New York City Changes Policy on Controversial Circumcision Rite
Mohels Suspected of Infecting Babies With Herpes Will Undergo DNA Test
By Paul Berger
Mohels suspected of infecting babies with herpes during a controversial ultra-Orthodox circumcision rite will have to undergo DNA testing under a new, still-tentative agreement between the city of New York and ultra-Orthodox rabbis.
Officials in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, speaking on the condition that they not be named, told reporters in a February 24 conference call that if there is a DNA match between the herpes virus in the mohel and an infected infant, the mohel will be banned from performing the ritual, known as metzitzah b’peh, for life.
During MBP, which many ultra-Orthodox rabbis regard as a religious mandate, the mohel uses his mouth to suction blood from the circumcision wound. The city believes that 17 infants have been infected with herpes as a result of MBP since 2000 — two of those babies died and two suffered brain damage.
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
Columbia and Cornell Make Top 10 for ‘Jew Hatred’
Conservative Group Claims Rising Campus Anti-Semitism
Ivy League schools Columbia and Cornell were among the American college campuses with the “worst anti-Semitic activity” in 2014, according to a list prepared by a conservative think tank.
The David Horowitz Freedom Center based in Southern California launched a campaign to combat the “rapidly growing anti-Semitism” on U.S. campuses with its list of the 10 having the most anti-Semitic activity last year.
The campaign, titled “Jew Hatred on Campus,” will aim to “withdraw campus privileges” of student groups that the center says “support or are associated with known terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah,” according to a statement issued Sunday by the center.
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