Weekly roundup of world briefs

Agatha Christie novels edited to remove offensive references to Jews

By Gabe Friedman

(JTA) — HarperCollins has revised multiple novels by the famed British mystery writer Agatha Christie to remove references to Jews and other minorities deemed offensive by sensitivity readers.

The edits, which the British Telegraph first reported on Sunday, add Christie to a growing list of authors whose work is getting tweaked for contemporary audiences. Roald Dahl, the children’s book author whose family recently apologized for his antisemitism, also had versions of his books recently revised to eliminate potentially offensive language.

Christie, whose midcentury detective novels featuring the characters Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple made her one of the best-selling fiction writers of all time, included references to Jews in several of her books that prominent critics found antisemitic. She also included racist language that was more common during her time of writing, including the N-word and the term “Oriental” to describe characters with Asian heritage.

According to the Telegraph report, descriptions of characters as Jewish, Black or “gypsy” have been scrubbed from multiple books. In one example, Poirot’s description of a character as “a Jew, of course” in “The Mysterious Affair at Styles,” has been deleted.

The Forward noted in a 2020 analysis that right after World War II and the Holocaust, Christie authorized her U.S. publisher to remove other language about Jews that the company deemed controversial. The Guardian reported that at least one of the titles of her books was changed to remove racist language in the 1970s.

“As her circle of acquaintances widened and she grew to understand what Nazism really meant for Jewish people, Christie abandoned her knee-jerk anti-Semitism,” wrote Gillian Gill in her 1990 book “Agatha Christie: The Woman and Her Mysteries.”

Lauder to Biden: ‘This is not Germany in 1938; this is the United States in 2023’

(JNS) — Back in 2016, Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, presented the Theodor Herzl Award—the organization’s highest honor—to then-Vice President Joe Biden. On March 26, he penned a letter to the now U.S. president, whom he called “a friend of the Jewish people,” about the need to curb rising antisemitism.

“Today, America is witnessing the most frightening increase in antisemitism since the end of World War II,” Lauder wrote in the letter appearing as an ad in the New York Post. “Jews make up just 2 percent of the U.S. population, but are the target of more than half of all religious hate crimes.”

“Jews have been murdered, beaten and spat upon—especially Orthodox Jews—with almost complete silence from political leaders and the media,” added Lauder.

He noted that it is common for celebrities, athletes and even members of Congress to say “the most outrageous anti-Jewish slurs,” and Jewish students are “singled out” on campuses for their Jewish names or defense of Israel’s right to exist.

“Jewish enrollment at elite schools has plummeted. Jewish students are excluded from clubs and denied positions,” he wrote. “This is not Germany in 1938; this is the United States in 2023. Mr. President, only you can stop this rising tide of hatred against the Jewish people.”

Lauder urged Biden to state “in the strongest language” that hating Jews is dangerous and un-American. He also called on the U.S. president to do three things.

First, Biden should tell Americans that “antisemitism is no different than racism” in a major address. Second, the president should call out those, including “the extreme progressive members of your own party,” who support boycotting and divesting from Israel.

“These people don’t represent your values, the values of the Democratic Party or our country’s values,” wrote Lauder.

Third, Biden should direct the Education and Justice Departments to investigate antisemitism on campuses. Under the 2019 Executive Order that placed antisemitism under Title VI protections, colleges and universities are supposed to lose federal funding if they allow discrimination against Jews.

“This is not just a Democratic or Republican issue,” Lauder wrote. “It does not come only from the left or from the right. And it is not just a problem coming from non-Jews. … I will not be silent when Jews face hatred in America.”

Robert Kraft and Brandeis University team up to respond to antisemitism

(JNS) — The Robert Kraft Family-Brandeis Collaboration on Antisemitism, a multi-tiered effort aimed at combating hatred of Jews, debuted this month. It is a collaboration of the university in Waltham, Mass.; the Kraft family; and the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism.

Kraft, the billionaire CEO of the Kraft Group and owner of the New England Patriots, founded the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism in 2019, the same year the philanthropist was awarded the Genesis Prize.

“The rise of antisemitism and hate targeting Jews across the country is a threat to the Jewish community’s survival and needs strong leadership to combat,” he stated.

The foundation is working “to find innovative ways to educate and empower Jews and non-Jews to stand up to Jewish hate,” said Kraft. “Brandeis is the right partner for this important work, as its founding values are based in a commitment to create a better world.”

The partnership will include paid Brandeis student fellowships at the foundation as well as speakers at the university who will share research on antisemitism on campus. It will also provide tools for administrators in elementary, middle and high schools to teach about antisemitism and be geared to respond to incidents that take place in classrooms.

Brandeis University “has always been open to students of all backgrounds and committed to the free exchange of ideas,” said its president, Ronald D. Liebowitz. “The university has both an obligation and role to play in educating young people about the persistence of antisemitism and its impact on Jews and non-Jews alike.”

Michelangelo’s ‘David,’ in part, costs Florida school principal her job

(JNS) — The principal of a Florida public charter school was given the choice to quit or be fired after a teacher showed an image of Michelangelo’s nude sculpture “David” to a group of sixth-graders. Hope Carrasquilla, of Tallahassee Classical School—a Hillsdale College affiliate—opted to do the former.

Parents reportedly complained that they had not been notified ahead of time that their children would see a photograph of the nude Renaissance sculpture (1501-04) the world-renowned artist created for the Palazzo dei Priori in Florence, Italy. A copy now stands in that location, today called Palazzo Vecchio, and the sculpture is installed about half a mile away at the Galleria dell’Accademia.

One parent reportedly called the sculpture “pornographic,” but school-board officials explained that the issue was that parents were not notified, not that the sculpture is unclothed. The board also said this was one of several issues with the head of school.

The sculpture’s nudity has also generated controversy for Michelangelo’s depiction of the biblical king as uncircumcised. If the description of the scene leading up to David’s battle with Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:26 is any indication, the Jewish king would have been greatly displeased with that decision.

When David heard the Philistine giant taunt the Jews, he asked petrified Jewish soldiers: “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, who dares mock the living God’s army?”

Some have seen Michelangelo’s work as a deliberate erasure of David’s Jewishness. But the sculpture was arguably much more about politics than religion. The biblical king was seen as a civic symbol of Florence, which believed itself to be a just underdog facing the giants of Rome and Venice.

“Evidently, it was admired by the Jews of Florence, no doubt as much proud that the greatest king of Israel was seen by the Florentines as their hero, as by the spectacle that he had been transformed into a goy; he was unmistakably depicted as uncircumcised,” Jewish art critic Richard McBee has written.

Likely, he added, Michelangelo “had little or no respect or interest in the meaning of the sign of the covenant each male Jew proudly accepts.”

‘Indiana Jones’ again faces Nazis in Harrison Ford’s final performance of iconic role

(JNS) — The forthcoming film “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which was invited to screen at Cannes, is reportedly set in 1969 and will include another “mystical relic.” The snake-fearing, whip-wielding archaeologist (Harrison Ford) will again take on Nazis—this time evidently those who have infiltrated NASA during the Cold War space race.

It’s said to be Ford’s final appearance in the iconic role of the series that began in 1981, again teaming up with executive producers Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. (It’s being produced by Lucas Films, now owned by Disney). The new movie is directed by James Mangold, who also co-wrote the script.

“Indy” faced Nazis in the very first “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981) and again in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (1989). “Nazis. I hate these guys,” he says at one point.

The forthcoming flick also stars actors Antonio Banderas and John Rhys-Davies, the latter who played Sallah in “Raiders” and “Last Crusade.”

Speculation from fans about the relic includes the ancient Greek Antikythera mechanism, and the film’s trailer seems to suggest some time travel.

Could it involve Nazis who survived World War II attempting to travel back in time to save the Third Reich from defeat?

Only time will tell … until June 30 that is.

Stanford University digitizes thousands of pages of Nuremberg trial documents

(JNS) — Stanford University has digitized thousands of pages and documents from the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, which followed the defeat of the Nazis and the end of World War II in 1945.

The archive is a collaboration with the library of the International Court of Justice in The Hague. It relied on funding from Taube Philanthropies and cataloging assistance from United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

“The idea is to present to the public, without any cost, information that is directly derived from these trials, directly derived from the prosecution of people who have committed crimes against humanity,” Michael Keller, a librarian at Stanford, told NBC’s Bay Area affiliate.

The Taube Archive of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, 1945-46, includes a digital version of Nuremberg courtroom proceedings, films, audio recordings of the proceedings, and about 250,000 pages of digitized English, French, German and Russian documents, according to its website.

The more than 9,900 items—searchable and viewable in digital form—also include “evidence exhibits filed by the prosecution and the defense” and “documents of the Committee for the Investigation and Prosecution of Major War Criminals,” as well as the judgment.

6,000-year-old copper fishhook unlocks Ashkelon’s ancient past

(JNS) — A 6,000-year-old copper fishhook—one of the oldest ever found—was discovered in 2018 during excavations prior to the construction of the new Agamim neighborhood in Ashkelon, the Israel Antiquity Authority revealed on Wednesday.

The hook, most likely used to catch sharks or other large marine animals, will be exhibited on April 3 at the 48th Archaeological Congress.

“This unique find is 6.5 centimeters long and 4 centimeters wide, its large dimensions making it suitable for hunting 2-meter to 3-meter-long sharks or large tuna fish. More ancient fishhooks found previously were made of bone and were much smaller than this one,” said the IAA’s Yael Abadi-Reiss, co-director of the excavation.

“The use of copper began in the Chalcolithic period, and it is fascinating to discover that this technological innovation was applied in antiquity for the production of fishhooks for fishermen along the Mediterranean coast,” she added.

In the Chalcolithic period, there were large villages around Ashkelon, whose economies were based on agricultural practices still common today, such as the pasturing of sheep, goat and cattle, the cultivation of wheat, barley and legumes, and the tending of fruit orchards.

“We learn about the dietary habits of the people who lived here 6,000 years ago from the remains of animal bones found in ancient rubbish pits, from burnt wheat grains found in ovens, and from the hunting, cooking and food-processing tools retrieved, including flint sickles, and a variety of pottery vessels that served for the storage, cooking and the conservation of food by fermentation and salting,” said Abadi-Reiss.

She added that “the rare fishhook tells the story of the village fishermen who sailed out to sea in their boats and cast the newly invented copper fishhook into the water, hoping to add coastal sharks to the menu.”

Tel Aviv tech ecosystem growing despite global slowdown, new report finds

(JNS) — Tel Aviv ranks fifth globally in the number of private high tech companies valued at over $1 billion, known as “unicorns,” according to a new report.

The city’s tech ecosystem is growing despite a global slowdown, according to the report, titled “Tel Aviv—A Global Startup Trailblazer,” by Dealroom in partnership with Tel Aviv Tech and Tel Aviv Global.

The city has produced 95 unicorns overall, the third highest total worldwide, and 75 since 2018. Tel Aviv also ranked third behind London and Paris in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region for total venture capital investment raised in 2022 at $6.9 billion, and placed second behind London in the EMEA region for the highest-valued startup ecosystem at $393 billion, representing 10 percent of the value of EMEA startups.

Tel Aviv Tech is an economic initiative of the mayor’s office to boost the high tech sector and Tel Aviv Global is a mayor’s office initiative to bolster the city’s global positioning. Founded in Amsterdam in 2013, Dealroom is a leading data provider on startups and tech ecosystems.

The city’s mayor, Ron Huldai, said that he was “proud” of the rankings.

“Working against the odds is part of the Israeli DNA, and for entrepreneurs this has meant strategically embedding diversity and resilience into strategic growth: international scope, hyper-growth industries, and agility as a rule,” said Michal Michaeli, director of international economic development at Tel Aviv Global.

“The data presented in this report highlights the success of the Tel Aviv tech ecosystem even, and in particular, during a year like 2022, filled with challenges and change,” she added.

Israel successfully launches ‘Ofek 13’ spy satellite

(JNS) — Israel on Wednesday successfully launched the latest version of its Ofek reconnaissance satellites, the Israeli Defense Ministry said in a statement.

“Ofek 13” was blasted into low orbit from Palmachim Airbase in central Israel aboard a “Shavit” missile, on a westward trajectory over the Mediterranean Sea to avoid falling into enemy hands in the case of a malfunction and crash.

The advanced spy satellite is a project of the Defense Ministry’s Space and Satellite Administration in the Directorate of Defense Research & Development, the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Aerospace Industries.

“The successful launch of the satellite is yet another important example of the Israeli defense establishment’s groundbreaking innovation,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said following the launch.

DDRD head IDF Brig. Gen. (res.) Daniel Gold said, “The launch of ‘Ofek 13’ has proven Israel’s superiority in the field of space yet again. It also constitutes a leap forward in operational and technological abilities for the preservation and improvement of Israel’s standing in space for the coming decades.”

According to the Defense Ministry, the satellite has completed an initial round of tests and begun transmitting data. Once declared fully operational, the IDF’s 9900 intelligence unit will take over from the Defense Ministry.