Weekly roundup of world briefs

Netflix to produce a ‘Jewish Matchmaking’ series

By Caleb Guedes-Reed

(JTA) — Matchmaker, matchmaker — are you going on Netflix?

The streaming giant announced a new “Jewish Matchmaking” series on Thursday, modeled after its hit “Indian Matchmaking.”

Details are scant, and there is no premiere date, but Netflix’s companion site Tudum says it will feature “singles in the US and Israel as they turn their dating life over to a top Jewish matchmaker.”

“Will using the traditional practice of shidduch help them find their soulmate in today’s world?” the show asks.

“Indian Matchmaking” was nominated for an Emmy after premiering in July 2020, but was also criticized by many who said it promoted stereotypes and classism. The show’s production group, Industrial Media’s The Intellectual Property Corporation, will also produce “Jewish Matchmaking.”

Netflix has also sustained criticism for some of its other shows such as “Unorthodox” and “My Unorthodox Life,” for their negative portrayals of Orthodox Jews.

Significant drama has also occurred within the Haart family, who is at the center of “My Unorthodox Life,” during filming of the show’s second season.

Bomb threats target ‘Jew filth’ at Jewish centers in a number of states

By Ron Kampeas 

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Security officials are reporting a spate of bomb threats targeting Jewish institutions in a number of states.

The threats came into Jewish community centers around the country in recent weeks, most recently in Pennsylvania and Missouri, according to Michael Masters, who directs the Secure Community Network, a consultancy that works with national Jewish groups.

Other JCCs targeted have been in Oklahoma, Arizona and New Jersey. The threats come through online contact forms and have similar language.

The two most recent threats, in Missouri and Pennsylvania, both began, “I’ll be there at 12 to bomb your facility you ukranian jew filth i got bombs there now.”

The Anti-Defamation League said Wednesday on Twitter that it is tracking the threats. “We remain in ongoing contact with local and federal law enforcement, and continue to work with partners on the ground to ensure safety for the Jewish community,” it said.

Masters said that the perpetrators appear frustrated when the targeted institution does not shut down after security officials determine that the threat is not credible.

“We think that these guys are doing other calls because they’re not getting the outcome that they want, which is to potentially shut down the facility or sow discontent or fear,” he said.

Masters said that the targeted JCCs are working with his organization, Jewish federations and the JCC Association of North America as well as with local law enforcement.

In 2017 hundreds of bomb threats were called into JCCs, sowing widespread fear; a 20-year-old American-Israeli man was eventually convicted of making those calls. In 2020, more than 50 Jewish community centers in 23 states received emailed bomb threats. None proved credible.

Assailant kills 4 in stabbing attack in Beersheba, Israel

By Ron Kampeas

(JTA) — An assailant killed four people at a shopping mall in Beersheba, Israel, on Tuesday, in what Israeli authorities are describing as a terrorist attack.

The man injured at least one other person in the attack in the southern city on Tuesday, Israeli reports said.

The attacker hit a cyclist with his car, killing the cyclist, then exited his car at the mall and stabbed three people to death before being shot to death by a bus driver. The dead included three women and a man. Police are searching for a suspected second assailant.

Kann News, a government-run news station, said the attacker was an Israeli citizen and a Bedouin. The Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist groups praised the attack but did not directly claim responsibility.

Kann reported that there have been repeated calls by Islamist terrorist groups for knifing attacks on Israeli citizens in recent weeks. The Jerusalem Post reported that this was the third stabbing attack in Israel in a week.

Holocaust survivor who lived through 4 Nazi camps killed in Ukraine by Russia strike

By Gabe Friedman

(JTA) — A 96-year-old non-Jewish Holocaust survivor who lived through four different Nazi concentration camps was killed Friday in a Russian airstrike on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

The Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation announced Borys Romanchenko’s death on Twitter on Monday.

“Survived Hitler, murdered by Putin,” Ukraine’s foreign minister tweeted Monday.

Romanchenko’s former concentration camp uniform, which he wore through stints at the Buchenwald, Peenemünde, Dora and Bergen-Belsen camps, featured a red triangle. That symbolized that he was likely either a political prisoner or a gentile who assisted Jews, among other non-Jewish categories.

Romanchenko was at one point vice president of the Buchenwald-Dora International Committee and worked “intensively on the memory of Nazi crimes,” the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora institute said. He attended multiple ceremonies that commemorated the liberation of Buchenwald, one of the Nazis’ largest death camps.

His granddaughter told the institute that he was at home when his building was hit by Russian fire.

Three F-35s fighter jets land in Israel to join IAF

(JNS) — Three new F-35 fighter jets have joined the Israeli Air Force, the plane’s maker Lockheed Martin announced on Thursday. They landed at Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel, which hosts F-35 squadrons.

“The State of Israel was the first in the world to choose the F-35 as part of a foreign military sale with the U.S. administration. This, when it signed the LOA [Letter of Agreement] agreement in October 2010,” Lockheed said in its statement.

The first announcement of operational capability for an Israeli F-35 came in December 2017, marking the completion of the comprehensive processes for training, coaching and assimilating the aircraft, and their crews, at Nevatim Airbase.

“Since then, the aircraft has been in full operational service, and the current procurement process will continue in the coming years until the completion of all the aircraft purchased,” said Lockheed Martin.

Israel is set to fly three squadrons of the jet—or a total of 75—at this stage.

As of early March, 770 F-35s worldwide had accumulated 490,000 cumulative flight hours.

The F-35A, the U.S. Air Force’s latest fifth-generation fighter, is priced at $ 77.9 million, according to Lockheed Martin.

Kansas legislature adopts IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism

(JNS) — The Kansas legislature passed HCR 5030 this week, a resolution that recognizes the growing problem of anti-Semitism in the United States, as well as adopts the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism as an important tool to combat it.

“We can’t fight what we can’t define,” said Gavriela Geller, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Bureau, American Jewish Committee in Kansas. “The adoption of the definition is a crucial step towards combating rising Jew-hatred.”

According to AJC’s most recent State of Antisemitism in America report, 34 percent of Americans cannot define the word anti-Semitism. IHRA is considered the “gold standard” definition, and has already been adopted in more than 30 countries and in 23 states.

HCR 5030 passed unanimously in the Kansas Senate and House.

“We are grateful to our partners in the Kansas legislature for their leadership in addressing this issue,” said Geller. “The bipartisan support for this resolution was an important demonstration that anti-Semitism is not a partisan issue, but one that all Kansans can come together to fight.”

Gantz holds farewell flight with Israeli Air Force commander Norkin

(JNS) — Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz held a farewell flight together with Israeli Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin in an F-15 on Wednesday. During the event, Gantz thanked Norkin for “tens of years of professional, brave and creative service,” according to a statement released by Gantz’s office on Thursday.

During the flight—an operational training sortie—a four-ship structure of jets simulated strikes and aerial refueling missions.

Norkin is due to complete his five-year term as air force chief in April. The term was extended by one year due to unusual challenges facing the air force.

“This was a tenure without sleep and many long, distant operations far from the country’s borders,” Channel 22 reported in February, summarizing Norkin’s time at the helm of the IAF.

Norkin began his service in 1988 when he flew F-15s out of Tel Nof Airbase, south of Tel Aviv.

He is set to complete “one of the most complex, challenging and important roles in Israel, as the air force is the long branch, the insurance policy and the backbone of the Israel Defense Forces,” noted the report.

Johnson criticizes UK universities for ‘being tolerant of anti-Semitism’

(JNS) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said universities in the United Kingdom have for “far too long been tolerant of casual or indeed systematic anti-Semitism.”

The prime minister made the remark on Wednesday in response to a question by Parliament member Andrew Percy during the “Prime Minister’s Questions” event in the Commons Chamber, reported Britain’s news channel GBN. Percy asked about the National Union of Students inviting British rapper, activist and conspiracy theorist Lowkey to appear at its annual conference.

Lowkey was due to perform at the conference at the end of March but pulled out on Friday after Jewish students expressed concerns about his participation in the event.

Percy said Lowkey has “engaged in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.”

The British MP called on Johnson to do “everything in his power to ensure campuses were a safe place for Jewish students,” according to Jewish News. He also noted the rise of anti-Semitism on college campuses and cited examples of Jewish students facing anti-Semitic attacks, and being “marked down by their own professors.”

Johnson said it was important that the United Kingdom have an anti-Semitism task force “devoted to rooting out” the problem “in education at all levels.” He also said it was “very important [that] we now have—and I hope everyone understands—the need for change, for rapid and irreversible change.”

Russian businessmen resign from Jewish group after giving $10 million to Ukraine

(JNS) — Three Russian oligarchs who founded the Genesis Philanthropy Group have stepped down from the Jewish charitable foundation after it pledged to donate $10 million for humanitarian needs in Ukraine, reported Business Insider.

Banking and business billionaires Petr Aven, Mikhail Fridman and German Khan, who established GPG in 2007, were recently sanctioned by the European Union and the United Kingdom due to their ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“In order to assure the ability of GPG to stay true to its mission and build on the foundation we have created over the past 15 years, all three have resigned from the board of directors,” the nonprofit organization said in an email announcement that was signed by chairman Gennady Gazin and CEO Marina Yudborovsky. “Since our founding, Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan have been the drivers of our ability to strengthen Jewish engagement around the world, and each is personally, deeply passionate about a bright Jewish future.”

The resignations will not impact the $10 million that GPG pledged to donate to Ukrainian humanitarian efforts, noted the announcement.

Half of the aid relief will be put toward evacuation efforts and food distribution while $5 million will be put aside to “support humanitarian needs as the situation develops,” according to the foundation’s website.

Earlier this month, the Russian billionaires left the board of LetterOne, a $22 billion investment firm founded by Fridman, who is a Ukrainian-born Jew.

Aven and Fridman, who the European Union called “one of Vladimir Putin’s closest oligarchs [and] enabler of Putin’s inner circle,” previously said they will “vigorously contest” the sanctions against them.

Fearing shortages due to Ukraine war, Israel prioritizes grain, fodder shipments

(JNS) — Citing concerns regarding possible food shortages due to the Ukraine crisis, Israel’s transportation minister has instructed that cargo ships carrying grain and fodder be given priority in unloading at the country’s ports for the coming month.

“We face challenges to our food security at the moment due to the worrying developments in Ukraine,” said Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli in a statement on Thursday.

“The State of Israel must protect its food security by strengthening our domestic agriculture. Taking steps to get the grain and fodder that Israeli agriculture relies on into the country quickly will ensure that we maintain Israeli food security despite the changes around the world.”

Shipping and Ports head Yigal Maor has already taken “a number of steps” to implement the decision, according to the statement.

Intel to purchase Israeli cloud-service startup Granulate for $650 million

(JNS) — Intel is closing a deal to buy the Israeli startup Granulate for some $650 million.

According to a report in Haaretz on Wednesday, a source familiar with the deal said it’s not yet final, but as much as $100 million is being set aside for severance packages and to retain 70 workers.

Founded in 2018 by Assaf Ezra and Tal Sayag, Granulate works to improve the performance of cloud servers. The system optimizes execution without the need for programmers, in addition to reducing computational power and costs.

Haaretz also reported that Intel plans to open a new R&D center in southern Israel. At present, the company employs 14,000 in Israel.

Iowa governor signs multiple bills against BDS, antisemitism

(JNS) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed two bills on Wednesday related to antisemitism and efforts to boycott, divest from or sanction Israel.

The first bill prohibits state pension funds from investing in any publicly traded parent company, business entity and subsidiary not based in the United States that engages in BDS activity against Israel.  The second bill establishes the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism into Iowa law, making it a tool that can be used by law enforcement, courts, public officials and administrators to identify and investigate incidents of anti-Semitism.

Both will go into effect on July 1.

“We express Iowa’s enduring support for the State of Israel and our categorical rejection of anti-Semitism,” said Reynolds. “Together, these bills send an important message: Iowa continues to stand shoulder to shoulder with the State of Israel—one of America’s most important and reliable allies—while fighting all forms of religious and ethnic discrimination.”

Reynolds signed the two bills during a meeting with Consul General of Israel to the Midwest Yinam Cohen, who will address both the House and Senate Chambers at the Iowa State Capitol about increasing cooperation between Iowa and Israel.

“Israel has always claimed that any solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be reached through direct negotiations between the two sides,” said Cohen. “Any third party’s attempts to predetermine the parameters of the final-status agreement are counterproductive to solving the conflict. Today’s bill signings by the Iowa Legislature reaffirms a message of commitment to Israel based on shared values.”

Cohen added: “We strongly believe that both Iowa and Israel can continue to work together to create lasting partnerships that are beneficial to both states and local economies. Gov. Reynolds has been steadfast in her support for Israel and she has witnessed firsthand Israel’s achievements in innovation, water technology, medicine and agricultural technologies.”