Weekly roundup of world briefs

Kerry denies claim he informed Iran of Israeli strikes in Syria

(JNS) — U.S. Special Climate Envoy John Kerry on Monday denied allegations that he had discussed covert Israeli strikes on Iranian targets in Syria with Iran’s foreign minister.

“I can tell you that this story and these allegations are unequivocally false. This never happened—either when I was Secretary of State or since,” Kerry tweeted on Monday night.

Kerry was responding to a leaked audio recording of a closed-door discussion involving Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and an Iranian economist, in which the Iranian minister said that Kerry had told him of the Israeli attacks. The New York Times published excerpts from the recording on Monday.

The report drew condemnations from several senior Republican figures, including former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who tweeted: “This is disgusting on many levels. Biden and Kerry have to answer for why Kerry would be tipping off Iran, the number one sponsor of terror, while stabbing one of our greatest partners, Israel, in the back.”

In the recording, Zarif can also be heard saying that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and the late Quds Force commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani had the final say on Iranian foreign policy in the region, dictating diplomatic positions to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

The leak has sparked a firestorm of controversy in Iran with Zarif’s critics calling for his resignation, according to The New York Times.

It has also prompted Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani to order an investigation into the matter.

Virginia Republicans reverse decision, will accommodate voting for Shabbat observers

By Ron Kampeas

(JTA) — The Virginia Republican Party, reversing a previous decision, has created an opportunity for Jews to vote for a gubernatorial nominee before Shabbat starts.

On Sunday, the party’s State Central Committee took a second vote and unanimously agreed to allow Orthodox Jews to vote during the day on May 7, a Friday, the day before the May 8 convention. They must apply to do so by May 4.

Several days earlier, a majority of the same committee had voted to accommodate Orthodox Jewish voters and others like Seventh-day Adventists who do not vote on Saturday, but the vote did not meet the 75 percent threshold to pass.

Without the adjustment, voting to pick a nominee would have been confined to Shabbat hours.

The Republican Jewish Coalition asked the party to reconsider. On Monday, two members of the Norfolk Orthodox Jewish community who are also active in the state GOP announced the change.

The statement by Ian Cummings and Ken Reid referred to months of infighting over whether the party should have a convention or a primary to decide who among seven candidates deserves the party’s nod for governor.

“A number of SCC members in the minority were distrustful of this absentee amendment due to months of infighting among two factions in the governing body,” the statement said. “But over the weekend, many of these GOP leaders were able to hear from committed Sabbath-observing Republicans and came to understand that these fears were misplaced.”

The statement also thanked Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman, and the Coalition for Jewish Values, a national advocacy group, for weighing in on the issue.

Mandy Patinkin breaks down in tears on ‘Finding Your Roots’

By Gabe Friedman

(JTA) — Jewish actor Mandy Patinkin never thought he had family members who died in the Holocaust. The team behind “Finding Your Roots,” the long-running PBS celebrity genealogy show, proved he was mistaken.

In his episode that aired Tuesday night, Patinkin learned that he has family who were rounded up in Bransk, a town in northeastern Poland, and sent to the Treblinka concentration camp.

As he reads out a description of how his family members — along with the thousands of other Jews in Bransk — were burned in a crematorium at Treblinka, Patinkin breaks down. He says he would always explain in interviews that he wasn’t directly related to any Holocaust victims.

“I don’t have words,” he says in this video clip, which is premiering on the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Before becoming emotional, Patinkin was asked by host Henry Louis Gates Jr. how he thinks the Holocaust could have happened.

“My job is to imagine, that is my profession,” he says. “I have never been able to get a hold of that.”

Jerusalem clashes calm as police remove barricades at Damascus Gate

(JNS) — Violent disturbances in Jerusalem abated overnight Sunday, as the Israel Police removed barricades that had prevented eastern Jerusalem Arabs from congregating outside the Old City’s Damascus Gate.

After Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai ordered the removal of the barricades, youths waving Palestinian flags celebrated, chanting nationalistic slogans, according to Kol Ha’ir. While police later sent forces in to clear the area, they did not reinstall the barricades, which had been set up two weeks ago at the start of Ramadan, leading to outrage among Muslim worshippers.

Clashes between Arabs and Jews in the city erupted on April 13, the start of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, escalating over the past week.

Earlier on Sunday, two police officers were assaulted at Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate. Undercover police arrested two eastern Jerusalem residents following the attack.

On Saturday night, 17 suspects were arrested in connection with the violent disturbances in the city, bringing the total number of arrests since the unrest broke out on April 13 to 157, according to police.

“The Jerusalem District is working during these days with increased forces — overt and covert — together with special units and advanced technology to safeguard the city’s residents and visitors,” police said in a statement.

Defeating odds, Israeli team crowned FIBA Europe Cup champion

By Yaakov Meir

(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Israeli Basketball Premier League club Ironi Ness Ziona has been crowned the new International Basketball Federation Europe (FIBA) Cup champions, after beating Stal Ostrow Wielkopolski and earning their first title in a European club competition.

According to FIBA’s website, Ironi Ness Ziona came out on top for an 82-74 victory behind 21 points from Nimrod Levi, while Jerome Meyinsse produced a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Wayne Selden was named Final Four MVP after backing up his semi-final heroics for the Israeli club with 13 points, four rebounds and six assists in their triumph in the final.

Ironi Ness Ziona is the first Israeli team to win the FIBA Europe Cup.

Stal Ostrow Wielkopolski, also known as Arged BMSLAM Stal, had been bidding to become the first team to win the competition without a loss en route to the title.

The game was attended by FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis and FIBA executive director Europe Kamil Novak, among other dignitaries.

This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.

French magazine devotes cover story to ‘post-COVID’ Israel

By Neta Bar

(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Israel’s success in beating back the coronavirus pandemic continues to attract attention in international media outlets, and this weekend, the French magazine Le Parisien devoted a cover story to Israel as an example of life “after” COVID.

The feature article, which interviews numerous Israelis and includes colorful descriptions of a busy Tel Aviv and Israel’s unprecedented national vaccination operation, is titled “A Taste of Life After [COVID].”

“Tel Aviv is no longer hiding its face behind a mask. It is now open to the air and to people on the street, even though sometimes a mask hides under a chin,” the article informs readers.

The article attributes Israel’s success to its digitized health-care system, the relative discipline of its population and efforts by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who the magazine said “fought tooth and nail for the vaccines … harassing the Pfizer CEO 30 times with phone conversations into the night.”

A separate article posted on the magazine’s website reported that Israel had marked the first day in months without a single COVID fatality, and said that since January, Israel had the lowest percentage of serious COVID cases in the world.

This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.

French-Jewish judge resigns to protest high court’s ruling in Sarah Halimi affair

By Cnaan Liphshiz

(JTA) — Outraged by a high court’s ruling in the Sarah Halimi affair, a French-Jewish judge has quit his post.

“I decided to resign over the ruling, which at first I couldn’t believe,” Jack Broda of the Tribunal of Commerce of Nancy, in eastern France, told Le Figaro. “My resignation was accepted and regretted.”

Broda announced his resignation on Friday, Le Figaro reported Tuesday.

On April 14, France’s highest court determined that Kobili Traore, a 31-year-old Muslim man, was not criminally liable for his actions on April 7, 2017, when he killed his neighbor Halimi, a 65-year-old Jewish kindergarten teacher and physician.

The court affirmed rulings by lower tribunals that Traore was not criminally liable for killing Halimi because he was having a psychotic episode induced by his consumption of a large amount of marijuana shortly before the killing.

Traore broke into Halimi’s apartment and pummeled her for about 30 minutes. The devout Muslim shouted about Allah and cried out “I’ve killed the demon of the neighborhood,” witnesses said.

Then he threw Halimi’s body out the window of her third-story apartment and shouted “A lady has fallen down!” before leaving the premises, witnesses also said.

The Paris Appeals Court had determined that Traore acted out of antisemitism.

On Sunday, more than 20,000 protesters, many of them Jews, demonstrated in Paris against the ruling and demanded a trial for Traore, who is at a psychiatric hospital.

Israel orders the deportation of dozens of African Hebrew Israelites

By Ron Kampeas

(JTA) — Israel has ordered the departure of 46 families belonging to the community of African Hebrew Israelites within 60 days.

Prince Immanuel Ben-Yehuda, a spokesman for the community, told The Associated Press on Monday that the Interior Ministry’s order was a “shock to the system.” The ministry said the deportations could be appealed.

The community of 3,000 stems from a migration of African-Americans from the Chicago area in the late 1960s. The status of the community was in effective limbo until 2003, when the ministry granted some members citizenship and others either permanent or temporary residency. Others were left without status. The criteria used by the ministry are not clear.

Also not clear is why the ministry waited until now to order the deportations, which it said applied to those who did not meet the criteria in the 2003 decision.

Some members of the community, also known as the Black Hebrews, have served in Israel’s military and attended Israeli schools.

The community, which resides mostly in Israel’s South, considers its members to be descended from the Tribe of Judah and maintains some traditional Jewish practices.

Oregon auction house removes Himmler’s purported dagger after Jewish groups complain

By Ron Kampeas

(JTA) — “Very Rare Heinrich Himmler Presentation SS Honor Dagger,” said the entry posted Sunday on the website of the Portland auction house O’Gallerie.

On Monday, after Jewish groups complained, it became even rarer.

The auction house president, Thomas O’Grady, removed the ceremonial dagger purportedly owned by the leader of the SS, The Oregonian reported. He also removed other Nazi memorabilia and told the newspaper he would not auction such items again, although he had in the past without controversy.

“We don’t believe that a business or an individual should be able to profit from something like this — it’s shameful,” Bob Horenstein, the director of community relations at the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, told the newspaper on Sunday, when it first reported the listing.

On Monday, Horenstein said he was “pleasantly surprised.”

Judy Margles, executive director of the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, had tried to reach the auction house on Sunday.

“I’m massively relieved that O’Gallerie listened carefully to the discussion around this issue and made the appropriate decision,” she said.

Birthright restarting trips to Israel as nation nears herd immunity

By Ron Kampeas

(JTA) — Birthright, the organization that flies young Jews to Israel for a free 10-day tour, will resume its trips now that the pandemic appears to be winding down.

“Birthright Israel will resume providing the gift of educational trips to Israel for eligible individuals aged 18-to-32 from the United States who are vaccinated or recovered,” its statement said. “Dozens of trips are expected in May and June, and more than 400 tour groups are planned for July, August and October.”

Participants will be required to test for coronavirus before boarding and upon arrival, the statement said. A factor was Israel nearing herd immunity.

The organization has brought over 750,000 young Jews to Israel over 20 years, including close to 46,000 in 2019.

Along with a number of other organizations, Birthright suspended trips to Israel after the pandemic outbreak.

Synagogue vandal in the Bronx strikes again

By Andrew Silow-Carroll

(JTA) — The suspect in a string of attacks on synagogues in the Bronx, New York, neighborhood of Riverdale has struck again, smashing windows at the Riverdale Jewish Center early Monday morning.

The New York Police Department and its Hate Crimes Task Force are looking for who they believe is a lone suspect after rocks were thrown and windows smashed at four synagogues, including the RJC, over the weekend. The latest attack came despite a beefed-up police presence, WABC-7 reports.

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea visited the crime scenes on Monday, tweeting, “There is no place for hate in NYC — @NYPDHateCrimes detectives are relentlessly investigating every one of these crimes.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted that law enforcement not only has “a solid lead on the vile acts of antisemitism in the Bronx,” but will also “take swift action against the perpetrators.”

The vandalism in the Bronx neighborhood, which has a large Jewish population, occurred overnight on Saturday. In addition to the RJC, the vandalized synagogues are the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale, Young Israel of Riverdale and Chabad of Riverdale.

According to security footage reviewed by the Community Security Service, a volunteer synagogue security group, the same suspect also vandalized two of the synagogues earlier in the week.

George Washington letter to Savannah Jewish community to be auctioned off

(JNS) — An original print of an early letter that George Washington wrote to the American Jewish community will be auctioned by Nate D. Sanders Auctions on April 29.

The letter was printed in the July 1, 1790 issue of the Massachusetts Spy: Or, The Worcester Gazette after the American Revolution. It was in response to an address made a year earlier by Levi Sheftall on behalf of the Hebrew Congregation of Savannah, Ga., which thanked America’s first president for his support of religious tolerance.

Washington’s letter reads, in part: “I thank you with great sincerity for your congratulations on my appointment to the office which I have the honor to hold by the unanimous choice of my fellow-citizens, and especially the expressions you are pleased to use in testifying the confidence that is reposed in me by your congregations …

He continued on to discuss the “spirit of liberality and philanthropy …. among the enlightened nations of the earth.”

Washington concluded by saying: “May the same wonder-working Deity, who long since delivered the Hebrews from their Egyptian oppressors, planted them in a promised land — whose providential agency has lately been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent nation—still continue to water them with the dews of heaven and make the inhabitants of every denomination participate in the temporal and spiritual blessings of that people whose God is Jehovah.”

Initial bidding for the newspaper clipping that contains the letter begins at $18,000.

According to the auction house, the letter is in “very good condition.” An unrestored issue was sold in 2014 by Sotheby’s for $68,750.