From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
French comedian Dieudonne arrested over Charlie Facebook post
(JTA) — French comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala was arrested for making a Facebook comment in sympathy with the Paris kosher supermarket gunman.
Dieudonne, who has multiple convictions for inciting racial hatred against Jews, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion that he incited to terrorist acts, the French news agency AFP reported.
His statement appeared following the killing of 17 people in three attacks last week in Paris.
“Tonight, as far as I’m concerned, I feel like Charlie Coulibaly,” Dieudonne wrote in a takeoff on the French expression for “I am Charlie.” The expression is being used in support of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, where 12 people were killed on Jan. 7 by two Islamist gunmen.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
GOP bill would kill presidential mandate on waiving Jerusalem law
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Two Republican senators introduced legislation that would deny the president the right to waive a law mandating a U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act, which was introduced Tuesday by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.), would withhold at least half the funding for building of overseas embassies until the United States moves its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and strikes the president’s right to waive the 1995 law mandating the transfer of the embassy.
Successive presidents have waived the law, citing U.S. national security interests.
“It is long past due for our government to finally and unequivocally recognize Israel’s historical capital both in word and deed,” Cruz said in a statement issued Tuesday.
Click here for the full story
From Ynet News
Charlie Hebdo sells out before dawn, with Muhammad on cover
3 million copies of the French satirical magazine, who lost 10 of its staffers in a terror attack, sell out around Paris.
Charlie Hebdo’s defiant new issue sold out before dawn around Paris on Wednesday, with scuffles at kiosks over dwindling copies of the paper fronting the Prophet Muhammad. In the city still shaken by the deaths of 17 people at the hands of Islamic extremists, a controversial comic who appeared to be praising the men was taken into custody.
The core of the irreverent newspaper’s staff perished a week ago when Islamist extremists stormed its offices, killing 12. Those who survived put out the issue that appeared on newsstands Wednesday, working out of borrowed offices, with a print run of 3 million – more than 50 times the usual circulation.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Hamas: New Charlie Hedbo cover is ‘Zionist lobby’ plot
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Hamas said the Charlie Hebdo cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad on the satirical magazine’s latest cover was part of a plot by the “Zionist lobby.”
“We condemn the latest publication of ‘Charlie Hebdo,’ which has caricatures offending the Prophet Muhammad,” spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Wednesday, according to reports. “The way the Israeli newspapers have dealt with the issue, with the blessing of the U.S. secretary of state, is clear evidence that there is a plot, directed by the Zionist lobby, targeting Muslims, their culture, and the tolerance toward them by Western countries.”
In the cartoon, Muhammad is holding a sign with the ubiquitous show of support “I am Charlie” and a headline in French reading “All Is Forgiven.”
The issue, which debuted Wednesday with a run of 3 million copies, was the magazine’s first since a terrorist attack on its Paris headquarters killed 12. Its publisher said it will print up to 5 million copies in five languages; the magazine usually prints about 60,000 copies.
Click here for the full story
From Ynet News
Merkel headlines rally against growing anti-Islam movement
German chancellor called on citizens to accept Islam as part of state, turn against xenophobia and extremism espoused by groups like PEGIDA. Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans not to marginalize Muslims or other minorities Tuesday, as the country’s political leaders prepared to take part in a rally meant to counter growing anti-Islam protests in Germany.
Merkel has taken a strong public stance in recent weeks against groups such as Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West, or PEGIDA. The group mobilized 25,000 supporters Monday for an anti-Islam protest in the eastern city of Dresden.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Daily Forward
Feds Raid Florida Firm Where Exec Inspired ‘Wolf of Wall Street’
Med-Care’s Danny Porush Played by Jonah Hill in Flick
By Aruna Viswanatha and Zachary Fagenson
FBI agents on Wednesday raided the offices of Med-Care Diabetic & Medical Supplies Inc, a Florida medical device company whose executive vice president helped inspire the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street,” according to a Reuters reporter and other witnesses.
The reporter saw dozens of agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Florida Division of Insurance Fraud, and local police around the site. Witnesses told Reuters the agents earlier closed entrances to the building that houses Med-Care and removed boxes of files.
Danny Porush is a top executive at Med-Care who inspired the character portrayed by actor Jonah Hill in the 2013 movie “The Wolf of Wall Street,” which told the story of defunct brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont Inc.
