From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Sky News sorry for Gaza images during chief rabbi interview on Holocaust
(JTA) — The British broadcaster Sky News apologized for showing images of the Gaza conflict during an interview about the Holocaust with British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.
The apology over the Jan. 27 broadcast came in a letter sent by Peter Lowe, Sky News’ managing editor, to a viewer who sent Sky News a letter of complaint about the interview conducted by presenter Adam Boulton, The Jewish Chronicle of London reported Thursday.
Lowe said showing images of Gaza while the chief rabbi talked about the Israel-Palestinian conflict was logical, but that with hindsight he would not have combined the two, calling it “an indelicate clash”.
He added: “I’m sorry if you or anyone was upset by the interview Adam did with the chief rabbi. I agree that the particular circumstances of the use of the pictures from Gaza was unfortunate.”
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
Abe Foxman Calls on Benjamin Netanyahu To Scrap Speech to GOP Congress
ADL Chief Wants Israel Premier To End ‘Circus’
By Nathan Guttman
Washington D.C. — As the controversy surrounding Benjamin Netanyahu speech to Congress reaches new heights, one of the Jewish community’s top leaders is calling on the Israeli prime minister to stay home.
Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti Defamation League said that the political uproar ignited by Netanyahu’s invitation to speak to a joint meeting of Congress makes such a move unhelpful and therefore it should be scrapped.
“It’s a tragedy of unintended consequences,” Foxman told the Forward, describing how the idea of presenting Israel’s view on Iran spiraled out of control, reaching even the Jon Stewart show, a step, Foxman said, that “turned the whole thing into a circus.”
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From The Independent
U.N. ex-envoy: Months left to avoid a one-state reality
(JTA) — Robert Serry, the United Nation’s outgoing special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said Israel and the Palestinian territories have months to avoid a one-state reality.
Serry, a Dutch diplomat who has served in his post for the past seven years, made the statement during a farewell speech he delivered at the Netanya Academic College on Thursday.
“If we do not advance matters in the coming months, we will reach despair and a reality of one state,” Serry is quoted by the news site Ynet as saying while addressing a crowd of Israelis. “I believe you have a partner in Ramallah. You must formulate a strategy regarding the topic of Gaza.”
Also on Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Nickolay Mladenov of Bulgaria to replace Serry. Mladenov, currently the U.N. special representative to Iraq, has been Bulgaria’s foreign minister and minister of defense and has worked at the World Bank, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
VIDEO: Jon Stewart doesn’t think the ‘Bibi-sitter’ is very funny
On Thursday, Jon Stewart weighed in on the announcement that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will make a speech to the U.S. Congress next month, just weeks before Israel’s elections. Stewart is critical of all sides, from the U.S. history of involvement in the Middle East to Netanyahu’s droll new campaign ad.
And for those who want to watch the full Bibi-sitter video:
From PressTV
Gazans protest Egypt court ruling against Qassam Brigades
Hundreds of Palestinians have staged a demonstration to protest the decision by an Egyptian court to designate Ezzedine Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas resistance movement, as a “terrorist organization.”
The protesters gathered outside Egypt’s diplomatic mission in Gaza City on Friday, waving Hamas green flags and chanting slogans in support of Gaza-based Qassam Brigades.
“Qassam are the pride of the nation, not terrorists!” they shouted.
“We call on the Egyptian authorities to overturn this oppressive ruling,” senior Hamas figure Salah al-Bardawil said at the rally, adding, “Those who seek to undermine Egypt’s security in Sinai are its enemies…. The weapons of the Palestinian resistance remain pointed towards the Zionist enemy (Israel).”
The rally comes a day after thousands of Palestinians staged a similar protest in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah to condemn the Egyptian court’s terror ruling.
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From PressTV
Hamas urges Palestinians in Syria, Lebanon to attack Israel
A senior leader of the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, has called on Palestinians living in refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria to launch attacks on Israel.
Mahmoud Zahar said in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday that branches of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, in both countries should strike the occupying regime of Israel “to help us liberate Palestine”, AFP reported on Thursday.
He also denied reports of the resistance group’s involvement in a recent attack by in Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula, adding, “our guns are always trained on the [Israeli] enemy.”
Israel launched a 50-day war on Gaza last summer that killed more than 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, and 73 people on the Israeli side, most of them soldiers.
Israel unleashed aerial attacks on Gaza in early July 2014 and later expanded its military campaign with a ground invasion of the Palestinian coastal enclave. The war ended in late August 2014 with an Egyptian-brokered truce.
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From Ynet News
The interaction of Judaism, Christianity and Islam
Op-ed: It is plausible to surmise that God brought Christianity and Islam forth to teach the world that both the theological and ethical pillars of the Torah are essential to build spiritual and just societies. The emergence of Christianity and Islam is viewed by many Jews as unfortunate and even tragic. Given the harassment and outright persecution of Jewish communities for which the former faiths are responsible, this attitude is understandable.
Nevertheless, those who believe that God guides human history should have the intellectual honesty and moral courage to acknowledge the role of Christianity and Islam in the spiritual growth of humankind.
Anyone familiar with the New Testament or the Koran knows that there are many statements in these texts that are agreeable to Jewish readers. Yet what earns Jewish respect and admiration for the New Testament is different from what earns Jewish respect and admiration for the Koran.
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
Of Touro Synagogue, Hasbro and 10 Other Things About Jewish Rhode Island
By Philip Eil
2) The central courtyard at Providence’s Roger Williams National Memorial was donated in 1931 by Jerome Hahn, in memory of his father, Isaac Hahn, the first Jewish citizen to hold elected office in the city.
3) Newport’s Touro Synagogue, dedicated in 1763, is recognized as the oldest synagogue in the United States. It was designated a national historic site in 1946.
