Weekly roundup of world briefs

Pete Davidson to star in autobiographical comedy series with a Yiddish name

By Andrew Lapin

(JTA) — Bupkis — meaning nothing, absolutely zilch — is one of those few Yiddish words that have become part of the American lexicon. It’s also the name of Pete Davidson’s new show.

The series, which will air on NBC’s Peacock streaming service, Deadline reported on Wednesday, is a “Curb Your Enthusiasm”-style R-rated comedy that “will combine grounded storytelling with absurd elements,” and reflect Davidson’s self-deprecating sense of humor.

The title certainly makes it seem like Davidson, who found out his father was Jewish later in life, will be mining some Jewish humor for his work — or at least aping the famous “Seinfeld” tagline: “The show about nothing.”

The “Saturday Night Live” star and current Kim Kardashian squeeze has already made a feature-length comedy film based on his life, “The King of Staten Island,” with Jewish director Judd Apatow. Davidson’s character in that film, like in real life, lost his firefighter father in the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Peacock announcement comes shortly after Hasidic rapper Nissim Black announced he would be developing a new scripted TV comedy based on his life.

Davidson’s other upcoming projects including providing the voice of Marmaduke in a new animated film about the large dog, and co-starring in this summer’s dark murder-mystery comedy “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” with “Shiva Baby” star Rachel Sennott.

Ukraine Holocaust survivors land in Israel on eve of Holocaust remembrance day

By Gabe Friedman

(JTA) — Multiple planes carrying Holocaust survivors fleeing the violence in Ukraine landed in Israel on Wednesday, the eve of Yom Hashoah, the Holocaust remembrance day marked by Jewish communities worldwide.

An estimated 300 to 500 Holocaust survivors have now taken refuge in Israel since the start of the war in Ukraine on Feb. 24.

“I never thought that this is what would happen again — that at my age I would have to again flee a war and again hear the sounds of bombs going off around me,” said Ninel Zhilinska, an 88-year-old survivor on the flight, according to The Times of Israel. “I was a refugee in 1941 and now I’ve become a refugee again.”

The flights, reportedly carrying 21 survivors in total, were organized by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Previous flights bringing survivors to Israel have been organized by organizations including the Jewish Agency, a quasi-governmental nonprofit that facilitates immigration to Israel, and Zaka, an Israeli NGO that rescues people from emergency zones.

Multiple survivors of Nazi atrocities during World War II have died amid Russia’s onslaught, including Vanda Semyonovna Obiedkova, who died on April 4 while sheltering in a basement near her home in Mariupol.

The final plane carrying survivors on Wednesday night departed from Moldova, and the passengers were greeted by Israel’s Immigration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata at Ben Gurion Airport.

“It is symbolic. During the Holocaust, they didn’t have a place to run. Today, there is a strong Jewish home,” she said.

Citing disproportionate infertility rates among Jews, all 4 Jewish denominations back congressional resolution calling for awareness

By Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON (JTA) — All four major streams of Judaism are among an array of Jewish groups backing a bipartisan congressional resolution that calls on the U.S. government to raise awareness about infertility.

Organizations affiliated with Orthodox, Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements signed a letter spearheaded by Hadassah sent Wednesday to members of Congress asking them to back a bipartisan resolution sponsored by Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Jewish Democrat from Florida, and Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican.

The nonbinding resolution declares “that the United States Government has a responsibility to help examine, create, and implement solutions to address and alleviate the problems associated with the disease.”

It lists Ashkenazi Jews and people of Middle Eastern ancestry as among a number of groups that “suffer from disproportionately higher rates of certain diseases and gynecological, endocrine, and autoimmune disorders, that may contribute to higher rates of infertility among these populations.”

Hadassah has been lobbying for years to classify infertility as a disease and to raise awareness. “For too long, infertility and the struggle toward parenthood have been topics of quiet suffering, particularly in the Jewish community,” Rhoda Smolow, Hadassah’s president, said in a release. “By asking policymakers to expand access to infertility care and reduce the financial burden of treatments, we are empowering all of the patients, families and communities infertility affects.”

The resolution has garnered a number of cosponsors, including Jewish Democrats Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, Brad Sherman of California, John Yarmuth of Kentucky, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Jerry Nadler of New York.

Ukraine Holocaust survivors land in Israel on eve of Holocaust remembrance day

By Gabe Friedman

(JTA) — Multiple planes carrying Holocaust survivors fleeing the violence in Ukraine landed in Israel on Wednesday, the eve of Yom Hashoah, the Holocaust remembrance day marked by Jewish communities worldwide.

An estimated 300 to 500 Holocaust survivors have now taken refuge in Israel since the start of the war in Ukraine on Feb. 24.

“I never thought that this is what would happen again — that at my age I would have to again flee a war and again hear the sounds of bombs going off around me,” said Ninel Zhilinska, an 88-year-old survivor on the flight, according to The Times of Israel. “I was a refugee in 1941 and now I’ve become a refugee again.”

The flights, reportedly carrying 21 survivors in total, were organized by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Previous flights bringing survivors to Israel have been organized by organizations including the Jewish Agency, a quasi-governmental nonprofit that facilitates immigration to Israel, and Zaka, an Israeli NGO that rescues people from emergency zones.

Multiple survivors of Nazi atrocities during World War II have died amid Russia’s onslaught, including Vanda Semyonovna Obiedkova, who died on April 4 while sheltering in a basement near her home in Mariupol.

The final plane carrying survivors on Wednesday night departed from Moldova, and the passengers were greeted by Israel’s Immigration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata at Ben Gurion Airport.

“It is symbolic. During the Holocaust, they didn’t have a place to run. Today, there is a strong Jewish home,” she said.

NY Gov. Kathy Hochul announces $2.6 million to aid state’s Holocaust survivors

By Andrew Silow-Carroll

(New York Jewish Week) — On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Gov. Kathy Hochul addressed Jewish leaders in Brooklyn and announced that the state’s FY 2023 budget will include $2.6 million in funding to support Holocaust survivors.

The Holocaust Survivors Initiative, to be administered by the New York State Office for the Aging, will fund programs that provide health care and other services to 40,000 state residents who are victims of Nazi genocide, 40% of whom are in poverty, said Hochul.

“Survivors of the Holocaust endured tragedy beyond the imaginations of the average person — we owe them a lifetime of care and with this funding we can ensure they receive just that,” Hochul said in remarks at the Boro Park YM-YWHA Wednesday.

Before announcing the funding, Hochul met with a group of survivors.

Year to year, the funding increases support for Holocaust survivor services by over $1 million. UJA-Federation of New York, the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty and other Jewish nonprofits lobbied for the funding.

“UJA-Federation of New York is grateful for the unwavering efforts of Governor Hochul and the Legislature resulting in $2.6 million to support critical services for Holocaust survivors in New York,” said Eric S. Goldstein, CEO of UJA-Federation, in remarks at the announcement. “Because of their past trauma, survivors often require a special set of social, medical and mental health services, and this funding will make a dramatic difference in helping these individuals access the care they need and age with dignity.”

Thursday is Yom HaShoah, a day established in 1951 by lawmakers in Israel to remember the victims of the Holocaust.

Conference of Presidents applauds US states adopting definition of anti-Semitism

(JNS) — The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations applauds the milestone reached on Thursday, Yom Hashoah, of half of the United States and the District of Columbia having adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism.

Alaska became the 25th state to adopt the IHRA definition through a proclamation on Thursday by Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

The milestone “reflects the broad support that exists for the most authoritative and internationally accepted definition of anti-Semitism, as well as the widespread view that it is critically important to recognize anti-Semitism in order to combat it,” said Conference chair Dianne Lob, CEO William Daroff and vice chair Malcolm Hoenlein in a joint news release.

“As we commemorate Yom Hazikaron, lashoah v’ lagevurah - literally, the Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and Heroism, which marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising—almost eight decades have passed since the concentration camps were liberated, but the scourge of anti-Semitism remains with us. Yom Hashoah is therefore not just about the horrors of that genocide. It is also a testament to our commitment to the pledge ‘Never Again.’ In that way, Yom Hashoah contains within it a balance; we memorialize the history of the past evil in order to secure a better future,” they said.

The Conference of Presidents noted the importance of the IHRA definition in its fight against Jew-hatred and anti-Semitism, expressing appreciation for member organizations and partners working towards its adoption worldwide.

ISIS attacks spike in Sinai, elsewhere around world

(JNS) — Attacks by ISIS (the Islamic State) have spiked in its areas of activities around the world, including in the Sinai Peninsula, where the Egyptian armed forces have spent years battling the terror organization, a new report by an Israeli security research center said on Wednesday.

The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center said that in the past two weeks, a discernable rise in attacks in various ISIS districts has occurred, attributing the rise to the organization’s declaration of a campaign of revenge for the deaths of Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi and the group’s former spokesman, who were killed in February in an American counter-terrorism raid in Idlib, Syria.

According to the report, multiple attacks occurred in the northern Sinai in recent days, including a shooting attack on April 25 targeting an Egyptian army patrol south of the town of Sheikh Zuweid; two soldiers were killed and a third one injured. An exchange of fire on the same day took place between ISIS terrorists and fighters from a Sinai Bedouin tribal union that supports the Egyptian army.

The pro-Egyptian militia received air support during that exchange from manned and unmanned aircraft, according to the report. Six Bedouin fighters were killed, it added.

Roadside bombs and ambushes occurred in other areas of northern Sinai as well in April.

The Egyptian military’s campaign against ISIS is backed by armed Bedouins who support the Egyptian effort.

The report said that on April 22, two Bedouin fighters kidnapped by ISIS were executed. Two days later, an ISIS-affiliated media outlet released video footage showing the murder of men it claimed were “spies,” who were likely the kidnapped victims.

Earlier this month, ISIS’s official media platform, Al-Furqan, released a statement calling on its supporters in Israel to conduct terror attacks.

The spokesman said ISIS terrorists in Israel “fought and were killed for the sake of Allah and religion,” and criticized the terrorists belonging to Fatah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who he said battle for “land and homeland.”