From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
French interior minister speaks of love for Jews
(JTA) — French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said he loves French Jewry.
Cazeneuve’s statement, unusual for French politicians, was made Wednesday during a speech at a gala in Paris organized by the French Jewish Radio J station.
“I feel more close to you than you can imagine, close to you. Also in my heart, through ties of affection and friendship and sentiment, but also — and this is almost more important to me — through spirit,” Cazeneuve saidduring his address at the gala, which took place at the Paris Marriott Hotel Champs-Elysees. “Through a great admiration.”
Cazeneuve, a Socialist politician who is not Jewish, cited the late French Jewish philosopher Vladimir Jankelevitch, saying: “He largely shaped my way of thinking on the biggest philosophical questions.”
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From PressTV
ISIL born out of wrong anti-Syria approaches: Assad
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says Takfiri ISIL group was born out of wrong policies adopted by anti-Syria elements.
“[ISIL] has not emerged out of thin air. ISIL came to cap accumulating wrong-headed policies by parties involved in the war against Syria…,” said the Syrian head of state.
Those parties, he said, “have supported, armed and funded terrorist and Takfiri organizations to undermine Syria and strike the Syrians’ unity.”
Assad said any international effort had to serve national reconciliations in Syria and pressure the countries backing terrorists with funds and arms to cease their support.
The ISIL terrorists control large areas of Syria and Iraq. The group first sent its militants into Iraq in June, seizing large parts of land along the border between the two countries.
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
VIDEO: What’s More Offensive — ISIS Or Israel?
By Sigal Samuel
What do American students hate more: ISIS or Israel?
Media personality Ami Horowitz took to the University of California, Berkeley campus to find out — by way of a strange experiment.
Hint: It involves flags.
The students’ vitriolic reaction to the Israeli flag, as compared to the ISIS flag, is striking. A few caveats, though:
First, it seems likely that many of the students just don’t know an ISIS flag when they see one — it’s much newer and much less recognizable than the Israeli flag.
Second, the video is clearly edited — probably selectively.
Third, some students may have avoided confronting Horowitz when he was waving the ISIS flag simply because he seems totally loony — they think ISIS is beyond the pale of what any reasonable person might support, so it’s just not worth engaging. The fact that they don’t stop to argue or yell expletives at him doesn’t mean they view ISIS more kindly.
From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Trial gets go-ahead in $1 billion lawsuit against P.A., PLO
NEW YORK (JTA) — A civil lawsuit filed by 11 families of American terrorist victims against the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian Liberation Organization can go to trial, a federal court ruled.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled Thursday that there was sufficient evidence to present to a jury concerning the involvement of the PA and PLO in attacks during the second intifada, between 2001 and 2004, that killed or injured American citizens.
In their suit filed in 2004, which is seeking $1 billion in damages, the families identified seven bombings and shootings that the P.A. and PLO provided material support and resources to carry out. The court found that a jury could hold the P.A. vicariously liable on six of the seven attacks.
The suit was filed under the U.S. Antiterrorism Act, a law that permits U.S. citizens injured in terrorist attacks outside the United States to bring lawsuits in the American federal courts.
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
As Chabad Gathers, South Dakota Is Only State Missing
Rabbis From 49 States and 80 Countries Attend
(JTA) — Some 4,200 Chabad rabbis from more than 80 countries are gathering this weekend in New York for the annual conference of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries.
In the year since they all last got together to attend workshops, listen to keynote lectures from the likes of former Sen. Joseph Lieberman and pose for their “class picture” — a “Where’s Waldo of rabbis,” according to a Chabad release — the Jewish outreach organization they represent has put down roots in five new countries and one new state, Mississippi. That brings the number of American states with a permanent Chabad presence to 49.
Which had JTA staffers wondering: Which state is the holdout?
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
Angela Merkel Rejects Idea of Germany Unilateraly Recognizing ‘Palestine’ As State
‘Would Not Move Us Forward to Two-State Solution’
The aim should be that both sides agree on a two-state solution – Israel and a future Palestine – co-existing side by side, Merkel told a news conference in Berlin after meeting Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel.
“Therefore from our point of view, an unilateral recognition of the Palestinian state would not move us forward on the way to a two-state solution,” the conservative chancellor said.
From the Independent
From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Yemen minister dedicates award to country’s Jews
(JTA) — Yemen’s minister of culture is donating an international human rights prize to the country’s tiny and persecuted Jewish minority.
Arwa Othman, awarded the Alison Des Forges Award by Human Rights Watch in September, called for “tolerance” in her speech and announced she was giving her award to “brothers and friends from the Jewish community,” according to the Associated Press.
Othman made the announcement at a celebration Thursday in the capital city of Sanaa, where roughly half of the country’s Jewish population — numbering fewer than 90 in total — live in a guarded compound.
From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
British soccer boss sorry for saying Jews chase money
(JTA) — The owner of a British soccer club apologized for saying in an interview that Jews were inclined to chase money and for defending a racial slur against Asians.
Dave Whelan, who owns the Wigan Athletic Football Club near Manchester, made the statements in an interview published on Thursday in The Guardian and apologized for making them on Friday in an interview with the BBC.
Whelan told The Guardian that “Jewish people chase money more than everybody else.” He was defending his decision Wednesday to name Malky Mackay as the club’s manager despite a British Football Association inquiry into Mackay for alleged racism in recent email and text exchanges.
The three texts or emails Mackay had sent, Whelan said, included one describing the Malaysian businessman Vincent Tan as a “chink.” In another, Mackay referred to the Jewish soccer agent, Phil Smith, saying: “Nothing like a Jew that sees money slipping through his fingers.”
From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
And the only state without a Chabad is…
Some 4,200 Chabad rabbis from more than 80 countries are gathering this weekend in New York for the annual conference of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries.
In the year since they all last got together to attend workshops, listen to keynote lectures from the likes of formerSen. Joseph Lieberman and pose for their “class picture” — a “Where’s Waldo of rabbis,” according to a Chabad release — the Jewish outreach organization they represent has put down roots in five new countries and one new state, Mississippi. That brings the number of American states with a permanent Chabad presence to 49.
Which had JTA staffers wondering: Which state is the holdout?
West Virginia? Chabad opened in Morgantown back in 2007
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
Anti-Semitism Creeps Into Europe’s Daily Routines
Signs for Continent’s Jews Are Not Good
Ten years ago the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe convened a conference on European anti-Semitism. Last week it met to assess what had happened in the past decade. The signs are not good.
While a good part of the meeting was dedicated to official presentations by the participating nations, it was what one heard in the hallway over coffee that was most significant. At one point the White House delegation, of which I was part, met with representatives of an array of European Jewish communities. What we heard left me shaken.
We knew about the murders in the Brussels Jewish museum, the children gunned down on the Toulouse schoolyard, the fate of Ilan Halimi, a young French Jew who had been lured by a group of Muslims who then held him captive, tortured and eventually murdered him. We were aware of the violent demonstrations, assaults on synagogues, and the aggressive rhetoric — including “Jews to the gas” — that had occurred in various European cities. We anticipated that this would be our informants’ main concern.
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