MAURITANIE
Des hommes armés attaquent l'ambassade d'Israël
NOUVELOBS.COM | 01.02.2008 | 10:24
Un groupe de six hommes munis d'armes automatiques auraient fait plusieurs blessés parmi les passants et clients d'un restaurant tout proche. Il n'y aurait pas de blessés parmi le personnel de l'ambassade.
La Mauritanie est l'un des seuls pays membres de la Ligue arabe à entretenir des relations diplomatiques avec Israël. (Reuters)
La Mauritanie est l'un des seuls pays membres de la Ligue arabe à entretenir des relations diplomatiques avec Israël. (Reuters)
L'ambassade israélienne à Nouakchott en Mauritanie a été attaquée, vendredi 1er février, par un groupe de six hommes munis d'armes automatiques faisant plusieurs blessés parmi les passants ou clients d'un restaurant situé à proximité, a-t-on appris auprès de l'ambassade et de témoins.
"Je confirme que des tirs ont visé notre ambassade, à partir de la rue. Je confirme qu'il n'y a aucun blessé ni parmi le personnel de l'ambassade ni parmi les Mauritaniens" travaillant pour l'ambassade, a déclaré à l'AFP l'ambassadeur israélien Booz Bismuth.
Selon lui, l'ambassade était vide lors de l'attaque, vendredi peu après 02H00 (locales et GMT).
Balles perdues
Un témoin mauritanien, client d'un restaurant situé à proximité, Ali Fall, a toutefois fait état de cinq blessés lors de l'attaque, dont "une femme étrangère", vraisemblablement atteinte par des balles perdues.
Selon d'autres témoins, cette femme, qui marchait dans une rue voisine, a été transportée dans une clinique de la ville et deux personnes ont été évacuées à l'hôpital national.
Israël a dénoncé "un acte de terrorisme" et souligné l'importance de ses relations avec la Mauritanie.
Le porte-parole du ministère des Affaires Etrangères, Aryeh Mekel, a déclaré à l'AFP que "c'est un acte évident de terrorisme qui s'inscrit dans la longue série des attentats qui ont visé nos représentations diplomatiques à l'étranger depuis plusieurs années".
"Allah Akbar"
Selon, Ali Fall, un témoin mauritanien, un groupe de six hommes portant des boubous et enturbannés sont "descendus d'un véhicule, se sont dirigés à pied vers un restaurant à proximité de l'ambassade".
Après quelques minutes, "ils ont dit à haute voix en arabe "allons-y" puis ont crié "Allah Akbar" (Dieu est grand) et ont tiré" sur l'ambassade, d'après ce témoin. Les gardiens de l'ambassade --des militaires mauritaniens-- ont immédiatement riposté et les assaillants se sont rapidement retirés.
L'ambassade d'Israël est située dans une petite rue dans le quartier résidentiel de Tevregh Zeïna à Nouakchott. Un quartier bouclé depuis l'attaque par l'armée mauritanienne.
La Mauritanie est un des rares pays de la Ligue arabe, avec l'Egypte et la Jordanie, à entretenir des relations diplomatiques avec Israël. Elles avaient été établies en 1999 sous le régime du président Maaouiya Ould Taya, renversé en 2005 par un coup d'Etat militaire. (avec AFP)
Last update - 08:02 02/02/2008
Russian Jews concerned over recent wave of anti-Semitic incidents
By The Associated Press
Tags: anti-Semitism
Russia's Jewish community on Thursday reported three attacks in the last two weeks, including a raid on a synagogue and desecration of a memorial to Holocaust victims.
In Ulyanovsk, a group of about a dozen young men painted swastikas Tuesday on the walls of a synagogue and cursed at members inside, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia said.
In Volgograd, anti-Semitic slogans were scrawled on a memorial to Holocaust victims Sunday, the group said.
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Last week, several young men burst into a synagogue in Nizhny Novgorod, throwing religious books out a window and beating up a security guard, it said. All three cities are in western Russia.
The federation said it was concerned about the rise in attacks targeting Jews, calling it part of "a recent surge in anti-Semitic manifestations" in Russia.
In 2007, 67 people were killed and more than 550 injured in ethnically motivated attacks, according the SOVA rights center, which monitors hate crimes.
In a report issued Tuesday, SOVA said hate crimes in Russia have grown increasingly brutal and deadly. Authorities are doing little to combat xenophobia, it said.
According to varying estimates, between 300,000 and 1.5 million Jews live in the nation of 142 million. After an exodus in the years before and after 1991 Soviet collapse, the Jewish community is experiencing a moderate revival, with new synagogues, schools and cultural centers being built across the country.
During the Soviet era, thousands of Jews were imprisoned or executed as part of nationwide purges, and many more were forced to conceal their Jewish identity
Last update - 14:36 01/02/2008
British Jewish group sparks new outrage with condemnation of Gaza blockade
By Saul Sadka
Tags: Israel, British Jewry, Gaza
LONDON - A controversial coalition of prominent Jewish activists and academics has reignited controversy in the British Jewish community after taking out an paid advertisement in The Times thsi week calling for Israel to lift its economic blockade of the Gaza strip and accusing the state of breaching international law.
"Independent Jewish Voices" was formed a year ago and counts Nobel laureate Harold Pinter and actor Stephen Fry among its prominent signatories.
Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm is also a signatory though neither he nor Fry and Pinter - the groups most recognisable names - signed Wednesday's statement.
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The group was formed to provide an alternative to the Board of Deputies of British Jews - a cross communal Jewish organisation dating back to 1760 - who the IJV felt were inauthentically presenting themselves as the exclusive voice of Judaism in Britain. IJV members say that the Board of Deputies refuses to allow criticism of Israel and this presents a unrepresentative picture of Jewish opinion in the U.K.
The statement which appeared on the inside pages of the paper was signed by 250 of the groups members. Entitled "End the siege of Gaza!", the statement condemned Israel's actions in blockading Gaza as a violation of international law, and also called for a halt to Palestinian rocket attacks.
"The collective punishment of the population of Gaza is illegal under international law. We condemn attacks on all civilians including the rocket attacks on the residents of Southern Israel," said the statement.
The statement also called for an end to the blockade and for "both sides to observe a ceasefire."
Feminist academic Jacqueline Rose who describes herself as a "critic of Zionism," is one of the groups principle advocates. She said that the motivation for the statement was in response to the current crisis in Gaza.
"IJV arose partly in response to our sense that bodies in the U.K. who claim to represent British Jewry make statements as though they were speaking for all British Jews. While many of us have a high profile - we are not claiming that we are excluded from the debate - we formed to make it clear that British Jews do not speak with one voice."
The group has views on everything from th right of Norman Finkelstein to speak at the Oxford Union which they support, to the proposed academic and economic boycotts of Israel which members disagree on. Rose says that while the group disagrees over the boycott they "support it being discussed openly, something which regrettably may be illegal in the UK." She argues that "the battle against antisemitism is weakened by its association with criticism of Israel."
Rose says that the network took out the advertisement in The Times rather that what might be seen as its more obvious political home The Guardian to get its message beyond the left wing readership who would generally approve of the group's credo, to a more mainstream audience.
She argues that "Israel must negotiate with the elected Hamas government for there to be any kind of a solution to the rocket fire on the south."
The group caused a media storm following its launch, with a full page advertisement in The Times, a week long discussion on The Guardian's Website and extensive media coverage. However, the group does not take a firm position on the proposed academic and economic boycott of Israel, with some of its members supportive while other are in opposition.
One of its signatories, Tony Greenstein is a trade unionist who has publicly called for a boycott of Israeli goods and is also a member of "Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods."
A critic of the group, lawyer and academic Anthony Julius, disputed the claim that Israel was in breach of international law.
"It is by no means unarguable that Israel is right to treat Gaza as an enemy territory. It is hard to see on what basis Israel's actions can be seen as a violation and only one or two of the signatories could grapple with issues involved."
Julius argues that the group is "fraying at the edges and has lost some of its membership. It is unable to speak with a coherent voice on any issue, such as the academic boycott of Israel."
Related articles:
# New group aims to open debate among British Jews on Israel
# British Jewish group strikes back at new left-wing group
# Jonathan Spyer / The anti-Israel lobby
# Richard Silverstein / In praise of the Jewish blogosphere
Last update - 16:55 01/02/2008
Czech court overturns ban on neo-Nazi march past city synagogue
By DPA
Tags: Synagogue, Anti-Semitism
A Czech court Friday overturned a ban on a neo- Nazi march that organizers had originally planned to lead past a synagogue in the city of Plzen a day after the 66th anniversary of the first transport of the city's Jews to a concentration camp, CTK news agency reported.
The Plzen County court ruled that the ban was not grounded in law, and allowed the event's convener Vaclav Bures - whom the police claim to be a far-right extremist - to hold the march within 30 days after the verdict was handed down.
Bures, 32, told CTK he planned to go ahead with the march originally scheduled for January 19. The city may appeal Thursday's verdict to the Supreme Administrative Court.
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Plzen Mayor Pavel Roedl banned the march two days before it had been due to take place, arguing that it would put residents in danger.
"I don't want to be mayor of a city in which radicals are allowed to give the Nazi salute," Roedl was quoted as saying.
As a result, the event organizers filed a criminal complaint against the mayor for alleged scaremongering, slander and abuse of public office.
Their lawyers pointed out that Roedl's issuing of the ban less than three days before the march, was illegal.
Although the Plzen march planned to pass through the city's synagogue on the Sabbath and despite painful connotations for the city's Jewish community, banning neo-Nazi marches has proved tricky for the Czech Republic in the past, as organizers have learned to exploit laws that safeguard freedom of assembly.
When far-right extremists in Prague registered to pass through the city's historical Jewish quarter on November 10 and then march during the anniversary of the Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) pogrom, they had officially claimed their purpose was to protest the Czech participation in the Iraq war.
Czech legislation renders the banning of protests very difficult. However, the police may cancel events once it becomes clear that protesters are inciting hate, which is deemed illegal in the Czech Republic.
More Jewish World news and features
European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor (Uriah Tadmor / Jini)
Last update - 22:54 29/01/2008
European Jewish leader: World Jews should have say in Israeli politics
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: European Jewish congress, WJC
Israel should grant all of world Jewry the right to vote even on
political issues, the president of the European Jewish Congress, Moshe Kantor, demanded on Monday.
Kantor spoke during the meetings of the Board of Governors of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) Monday in Jerusalem. The question of the right of world Jewry to take part in the discussion over the future of Jerusalem was the major topic being discussed behind the scenes at the meetings.
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"Israel's leadership should recognize that all the Jews in the world have the right to vote in Israel elections," Kantor told Haaretz. "If anyone with at least one Jewish grandfather or grandmother has the right to make Aliyah within the framework of the Law of Return, then we need to grant them equal rights," said Kantor.
The issue of world Jewry's involvement in Israeli politics, and in particular the issue of talks over the future of Jerusalem was not discussed officially, despite efforts of representatives of right wing parties to pass a resolution calling on the government of Israel not to divide Jerusalem.
The traditional WJC policy of not taking sides on Israeli political matters held, and only a declarative resolution calling on Jewish communities around the world to support Jerusalem passed. The WJC, at least in its own eyes is the most important Jewish organization in the world.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert canceled his appearance before the WJC after WJC president Ron Lauder published a letter three weeks ago calling on Olmert to take into account world Jewish opinion on Jerusalem.
President Shimon Peres did appear at the meetings, as did Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and Lauder's friend, the head of the opposition Benjamin Netanyahu.
Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File
Last update - 13:49 21/01/2008
Poll: Only 16% of Israelis back Diaspora input on fate of J'lem
By Anshel Pfeffer
Tags: Israel, Diaspora, Judaism
Only 16 percent of Israeli Jews think that Diaspora Jewry should be involved in decisions on the future of Jerusalem, according to a poll commissioned by the Shalem Center's Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies.
However, most Israeli Jews also oppose leaving the decision solely to the government: Only 5 percent of the 500 respondents thought the prime minister was entitled to decide Jerusalem's fate, and only 13 percent were willing to let the cabinet and Knesset make this choice. Fully 34 percent said it should be made by all Israeli citizens, and 32 percent thought it should be made by all Israeli Jews.
Among the 16 percent who said that both Israeli and Diaspora Jews should decide Jerusalem's fate, religious Jews were prominent: Less than 9percent of the secular Israelis chose this option, but the proportion rose to 29 percent among religious Jews.
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The data were presented during the first day of the Herzliya Conference, which was held Sunday in the Knesset.
Associates of Professor Yehezkel Dror, president of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, said Sunday that Dror plans to use his speech to the conference to argue that Diaspora Jews should be consulted on such issues, though Israelis should make the final decisions.
In his address to Wednesday's conference session on Israel-Diaspora relations, Dror will argue that Israel and the Diaspora are becoming increasingly distant from each other. Existing data already show an erosion in solidarity with Israel among the younger generation of Diaspora Jews, and Dror believes that existing programs are insufficient to reverse this trend, his associates said.
Dror, they added, blames this crisis on the Israeli establishment's view that Israel is by definition the center of the Jewish people, and its consequent rejection of the Diaspora. He therefore plans to argue that the role of Diaspora Jews in Israel's affairs should be upgraded: Instead of merely being a source of financial aid, they should become "consultants," his associates said.
Des hommes armés attaquent l'ambassade d'Israël
NOUVELOBS.COM | 01.02.2008 | 10:24
Un groupe de six hommes munis d'armes automatiques auraient fait plusieurs blessés parmi les passants et clients d'un restaurant tout proche. Il n'y aurait pas de blessés parmi le personnel de l'ambassade.
La Mauritanie est l'un des seuls pays membres de la Ligue arabe à entretenir des relations diplomatiques avec Israël. (Reuters)
La Mauritanie est l'un des seuls pays membres de la Ligue arabe à entretenir des relations diplomatiques avec Israël. (Reuters)
L'ambassade israélienne à Nouakchott en Mauritanie a été attaquée, vendredi 1er février, par un groupe de six hommes munis d'armes automatiques faisant plusieurs blessés parmi les passants ou clients d'un restaurant situé à proximité, a-t-on appris auprès de l'ambassade et de témoins.
"Je confirme que des tirs ont visé notre ambassade, à partir de la rue. Je confirme qu'il n'y a aucun blessé ni parmi le personnel de l'ambassade ni parmi les Mauritaniens" travaillant pour l'ambassade, a déclaré à l'AFP l'ambassadeur israélien Booz Bismuth.
Selon lui, l'ambassade était vide lors de l'attaque, vendredi peu après 02H00 (locales et GMT).
Balles perdues
Un témoin mauritanien, client d'un restaurant situé à proximité, Ali Fall, a toutefois fait état de cinq blessés lors de l'attaque, dont "une femme étrangère", vraisemblablement atteinte par des balles perdues.
Selon d'autres témoins, cette femme, qui marchait dans une rue voisine, a été transportée dans une clinique de la ville et deux personnes ont été évacuées à l'hôpital national.
Israël a dénoncé "un acte de terrorisme" et souligné l'importance de ses relations avec la Mauritanie.
Le porte-parole du ministère des Affaires Etrangères, Aryeh Mekel, a déclaré à l'AFP que "c'est un acte évident de terrorisme qui s'inscrit dans la longue série des attentats qui ont visé nos représentations diplomatiques à l'étranger depuis plusieurs années".
"Allah Akbar"
Selon, Ali Fall, un témoin mauritanien, un groupe de six hommes portant des boubous et enturbannés sont "descendus d'un véhicule, se sont dirigés à pied vers un restaurant à proximité de l'ambassade".
Après quelques minutes, "ils ont dit à haute voix en arabe "allons-y" puis ont crié "Allah Akbar" (Dieu est grand) et ont tiré" sur l'ambassade, d'après ce témoin. Les gardiens de l'ambassade --des militaires mauritaniens-- ont immédiatement riposté et les assaillants se sont rapidement retirés.
L'ambassade d'Israël est située dans une petite rue dans le quartier résidentiel de Tevregh Zeïna à Nouakchott. Un quartier bouclé depuis l'attaque par l'armée mauritanienne.
La Mauritanie est un des rares pays de la Ligue arabe, avec l'Egypte et la Jordanie, à entretenir des relations diplomatiques avec Israël. Elles avaient été établies en 1999 sous le régime du président Maaouiya Ould Taya, renversé en 2005 par un coup d'Etat militaire. (avec AFP)
Last update - 08:02 02/02/2008
Russian Jews concerned over recent wave of anti-Semitic incidents
By The Associated Press
Tags: anti-Semitism
Russia's Jewish community on Thursday reported three attacks in the last two weeks, including a raid on a synagogue and desecration of a memorial to Holocaust victims.
In Ulyanovsk, a group of about a dozen young men painted swastikas Tuesday on the walls of a synagogue and cursed at members inside, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia said.
In Volgograd, anti-Semitic slogans were scrawled on a memorial to Holocaust victims Sunday, the group said.
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Last week, several young men burst into a synagogue in Nizhny Novgorod, throwing religious books out a window and beating up a security guard, it said. All three cities are in western Russia.
The federation said it was concerned about the rise in attacks targeting Jews, calling it part of "a recent surge in anti-Semitic manifestations" in Russia.
In 2007, 67 people were killed and more than 550 injured in ethnically motivated attacks, according the SOVA rights center, which monitors hate crimes.
In a report issued Tuesday, SOVA said hate crimes in Russia have grown increasingly brutal and deadly. Authorities are doing little to combat xenophobia, it said.
According to varying estimates, between 300,000 and 1.5 million Jews live in the nation of 142 million. After an exodus in the years before and after 1991 Soviet collapse, the Jewish community is experiencing a moderate revival, with new synagogues, schools and cultural centers being built across the country.
During the Soviet era, thousands of Jews were imprisoned or executed as part of nationwide purges, and many more were forced to conceal their Jewish identity
Last update - 14:36 01/02/2008
British Jewish group sparks new outrage with condemnation of Gaza blockade
By Saul Sadka
Tags: Israel, British Jewry, Gaza
LONDON - A controversial coalition of prominent Jewish activists and academics has reignited controversy in the British Jewish community after taking out an paid advertisement in The Times thsi week calling for Israel to lift its economic blockade of the Gaza strip and accusing the state of breaching international law.
"Independent Jewish Voices" was formed a year ago and counts Nobel laureate Harold Pinter and actor Stephen Fry among its prominent signatories.
Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm is also a signatory though neither he nor Fry and Pinter - the groups most recognisable names - signed Wednesday's statement.
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The group was formed to provide an alternative to the Board of Deputies of British Jews - a cross communal Jewish organisation dating back to 1760 - who the IJV felt were inauthentically presenting themselves as the exclusive voice of Judaism in Britain. IJV members say that the Board of Deputies refuses to allow criticism of Israel and this presents a unrepresentative picture of Jewish opinion in the U.K.
The statement which appeared on the inside pages of the paper was signed by 250 of the groups members. Entitled "End the siege of Gaza!", the statement condemned Israel's actions in blockading Gaza as a violation of international law, and also called for a halt to Palestinian rocket attacks.
"The collective punishment of the population of Gaza is illegal under international law. We condemn attacks on all civilians including the rocket attacks on the residents of Southern Israel," said the statement.
The statement also called for an end to the blockade and for "both sides to observe a ceasefire."
Feminist academic Jacqueline Rose who describes herself as a "critic of Zionism," is one of the groups principle advocates. She said that the motivation for the statement was in response to the current crisis in Gaza.
"IJV arose partly in response to our sense that bodies in the U.K. who claim to represent British Jewry make statements as though they were speaking for all British Jews. While many of us have a high profile - we are not claiming that we are excluded from the debate - we formed to make it clear that British Jews do not speak with one voice."
The group has views on everything from th right of Norman Finkelstein to speak at the Oxford Union which they support, to the proposed academic and economic boycotts of Israel which members disagree on. Rose says that while the group disagrees over the boycott they "support it being discussed openly, something which regrettably may be illegal in the UK." She argues that "the battle against antisemitism is weakened by its association with criticism of Israel."
Rose says that the network took out the advertisement in The Times rather that what might be seen as its more obvious political home The Guardian to get its message beyond the left wing readership who would generally approve of the group's credo, to a more mainstream audience.
She argues that "Israel must negotiate with the elected Hamas government for there to be any kind of a solution to the rocket fire on the south."
The group caused a media storm following its launch, with a full page advertisement in The Times, a week long discussion on The Guardian's Website and extensive media coverage. However, the group does not take a firm position on the proposed academic and economic boycott of Israel, with some of its members supportive while other are in opposition.
One of its signatories, Tony Greenstein is a trade unionist who has publicly called for a boycott of Israeli goods and is also a member of "Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods."
A critic of the group, lawyer and academic Anthony Julius, disputed the claim that Israel was in breach of international law.
"It is by no means unarguable that Israel is right to treat Gaza as an enemy territory. It is hard to see on what basis Israel's actions can be seen as a violation and only one or two of the signatories could grapple with issues involved."
Julius argues that the group is "fraying at the edges and has lost some of its membership. It is unable to speak with a coherent voice on any issue, such as the academic boycott of Israel."
Related articles:
# New group aims to open debate among British Jews on Israel
# British Jewish group strikes back at new left-wing group
# Jonathan Spyer / The anti-Israel lobby
# Richard Silverstein / In praise of the Jewish blogosphere
Last update - 16:55 01/02/2008
Czech court overturns ban on neo-Nazi march past city synagogue
By DPA
Tags: Synagogue, Anti-Semitism
A Czech court Friday overturned a ban on a neo- Nazi march that organizers had originally planned to lead past a synagogue in the city of Plzen a day after the 66th anniversary of the first transport of the city's Jews to a concentration camp, CTK news agency reported.
The Plzen County court ruled that the ban was not grounded in law, and allowed the event's convener Vaclav Bures - whom the police claim to be a far-right extremist - to hold the march within 30 days after the verdict was handed down.
Bures, 32, told CTK he planned to go ahead with the march originally scheduled for January 19. The city may appeal Thursday's verdict to the Supreme Administrative Court.
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Plzen Mayor Pavel Roedl banned the march two days before it had been due to take place, arguing that it would put residents in danger.
"I don't want to be mayor of a city in which radicals are allowed to give the Nazi salute," Roedl was quoted as saying.
As a result, the event organizers filed a criminal complaint against the mayor for alleged scaremongering, slander and abuse of public office.
Their lawyers pointed out that Roedl's issuing of the ban less than three days before the march, was illegal.
Although the Plzen march planned to pass through the city's synagogue on the Sabbath and despite painful connotations for the city's Jewish community, banning neo-Nazi marches has proved tricky for the Czech Republic in the past, as organizers have learned to exploit laws that safeguard freedom of assembly.
When far-right extremists in Prague registered to pass through the city's historical Jewish quarter on November 10 and then march during the anniversary of the Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) pogrom, they had officially claimed their purpose was to protest the Czech participation in the Iraq war.
Czech legislation renders the banning of protests very difficult. However, the police may cancel events once it becomes clear that protesters are inciting hate, which is deemed illegal in the Czech Republic.
More Jewish World news and features
European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor (Uriah Tadmor / Jini)
Last update - 22:54 29/01/2008
European Jewish leader: World Jews should have say in Israeli politics
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: European Jewish congress, WJC
Israel should grant all of world Jewry the right to vote even on
political issues, the president of the European Jewish Congress, Moshe Kantor, demanded on Monday.
Kantor spoke during the meetings of the Board of Governors of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) Monday in Jerusalem. The question of the right of world Jewry to take part in the discussion over the future of Jerusalem was the major topic being discussed behind the scenes at the meetings.
Advertisement
"Israel's leadership should recognize that all the Jews in the world have the right to vote in Israel elections," Kantor told Haaretz. "If anyone with at least one Jewish grandfather or grandmother has the right to make Aliyah within the framework of the Law of Return, then we need to grant them equal rights," said Kantor.
The issue of world Jewry's involvement in Israeli politics, and in particular the issue of talks over the future of Jerusalem was not discussed officially, despite efforts of representatives of right wing parties to pass a resolution calling on the government of Israel not to divide Jerusalem.
The traditional WJC policy of not taking sides on Israeli political matters held, and only a declarative resolution calling on Jewish communities around the world to support Jerusalem passed. The WJC, at least in its own eyes is the most important Jewish organization in the world.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert canceled his appearance before the WJC after WJC president Ron Lauder published a letter three weeks ago calling on Olmert to take into account world Jewish opinion on Jerusalem.
President Shimon Peres did appear at the meetings, as did Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and Lauder's friend, the head of the opposition Benjamin Netanyahu.
Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File
Last update - 13:49 21/01/2008
Poll: Only 16% of Israelis back Diaspora input on fate of J'lem
By Anshel Pfeffer
Tags: Israel, Diaspora, Judaism
Only 16 percent of Israeli Jews think that Diaspora Jewry should be involved in decisions on the future of Jerusalem, according to a poll commissioned by the Shalem Center's Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies.
However, most Israeli Jews also oppose leaving the decision solely to the government: Only 5 percent of the 500 respondents thought the prime minister was entitled to decide Jerusalem's fate, and only 13 percent were willing to let the cabinet and Knesset make this choice. Fully 34 percent said it should be made by all Israeli citizens, and 32 percent thought it should be made by all Israeli Jews.
Among the 16 percent who said that both Israeli and Diaspora Jews should decide Jerusalem's fate, religious Jews were prominent: Less than 9percent of the secular Israelis chose this option, but the proportion rose to 29 percent among religious Jews.
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The data were presented during the first day of the Herzliya Conference, which was held Sunday in the Knesset.
Associates of Professor Yehezkel Dror, president of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, said Sunday that Dror plans to use his speech to the conference to argue that Diaspora Jews should be consulted on such issues, though Israelis should make the final decisions.
In his address to Wednesday's conference session on Israel-Diaspora relations, Dror will argue that Israel and the Diaspora are becoming increasingly distant from each other. Existing data already show an erosion in solidarity with Israel among the younger generation of Diaspora Jews, and Dror believes that existing programs are insufficient to reverse this trend, his associates said.
Dror, they added, blames this crisis on the Israeli establishment's view that Israel is by definition the center of the Jewish people, and its consequent rejection of the Diaspora. He therefore plans to argue that the role of Diaspora Jews in Israel's affairs should be upgraded: Instead of merely being a source of financial aid, they should become "consultants," his associates said.
posted by William Labi at 9:55 PM
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