An attack on two elderly Jewish men outside a Toronto synagogue last
August was not an anti-Semitic hate crime, according to a Toronto police
detective who has made two arrests in the case and expects a third soon. The
beatings of Silvain Miller, 66, and Jacob Lazar, 79, outside Torath Emeth
Jewish Center involved a bad business transaction and "a case of mistaken
identity," the detective said. The assailants reportedly used a lead pipe
against
their victims, who had been on their way to Friday evening services. Security
was heightened in synagogues and communal centers throughout Toronto after
the beatings.
A group of 50 Knesset members presented an Israeli peace activist with
a letter they had sent to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee recommending him
for the honor. Abie Nathan, confined to a wheelchair from a recent stroke, ran
the "Voice of Peace," a ship from which he broadcast programs backing the
peace process and various humanitarian causes.
U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Stuart Eizenstat said his recent
discussions with Austria's new government about compensation for Holocaust
victims were "very positive" and that Austrian officials presented a "road
map"
to address the issues, including providing for open access to the nation's
wartime archives. Speaking Wednesday at the beginning of two days of hearings
by the House Banking Committee on Holocaust-era restitution efforts, Eizenstat
also said Austria's new government is committed to exploring its Nazi past.
Two doctors from Jerusalem developed a medicine to combat cystic
fibrosis, according to the Jerusalem Post. The doctors, working at Shaare
Zedek
Hospital, administered the medicine in the form of antibiotic nose drops.
Hollywood star Winona Ryder says the fact that many of her relatives
perished in the Holocaust has been "a very big part of my life." In an
interview
with Jewish Webzine GenerationJ.com, the 28-year-old star film star whose
original name is Horowitz speaks briefly about her Jewish background. In
the interview, she also said her father is Jewish and her 99-year-old
grandmother
immigrated through Ellis Island and still lives in Brooklyn.
Israeli jets continued to pound Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon
on Wednesday, a day after the group killed an Israeli soldier, the sixth
casualty
in two weeks. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright blamed Hezbollah for
the recent escalation of fighting in the Israeli occupied security zone in
southern
Lebanon and urged the Syrians to use its influence and restrain Hezbollah.
Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy warned that the "soil of Lebanon
will burn" if Hezbollah gunmen fire Katyusha rockets at northern Israel to
retaliate for the latest Israeli bombing raids. Levy made the comment to a
group
of foreign diplomats Wednesday after Prime Minister Ehud Barak met with an
inner circle of ministers for three hours to weigh his next move.
Israelis got the all-clear sign to emerge briefly from bomb shelters in
northern Israel and stock up on supplies on Wednesday. They had two hours
before having to return to the fortified bunkers, where they have hidden for
two
nights in fear of Hezbollah rocket attacks.
Israeli President Ezer Weizman accused the international community of
having a double standard when it comes to Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon,
compared to similar airstrikes by the United States in Yugoslavia and the
Russian onslaught in Chechnya. His comments came after U.N. Secretary-
General Kofi Annan condemned Israel's attack this week on Lebanese civilian
power plants and urged both sides to exercise restraint.
The Russian Jewish Congress is intensifying efforts to help 13 Iranian
Jews who may soon be tried in Tehran on charges that they spied for Israel and
the United States. The RJC wants to send a delegation to Tehran that would
include the group's president, Vladimir Goussinsky, and Moscow Chief Rabbi
Pinchas Goldschmidt, but the Iranian Embassy in Moscow has not yet issued
entry visas for them.
President Clinton signed an executive order prohibiting the government
from using genetic information in hiring or promotion decisions. The order
prevents federal employers from requesting or requiring that employees undergo
genetic tests and using genetic information to classify employees in such a
way
that may deprive them of advancement opportunities. Studies have shown that
certain mutations of the BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 breast cancer genes occur with
higher frequency in Ashkenazi Jewish women.
The leader of Austria's far-right Freedom Party rejected the idea that
the armed units of the Nazi SS should be held collectively responsible for the
wartime crimes of some of its members. Instead, "individual guilt is what
matters," Jorg Haider, whose party is now part of the country's government,
said in an interview Tuesday with the newspaper Die Welt. "It can never be the
Waffen SS as such, but only individuals" who "bear the responsibility'' for
crimes committed by the organization.
Austria's new chancellor sought to assure critics that the country will
remain "a stable democracy" and vowed to provide compensation quickly to
Holocaust-era slave laborers. Presenting his government agenda to Parliament
on Wednesday, Wolfgang Schuessel also called the international backlash
against his coalition deal with the far-right Freedom Party of Jorg Haider
"exaggerated."
U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright proposed bypassing
Austria's new leaders and talking straight to the Austrian people about the
standards of tolerance expected of them. In an indirect dig at the far-right
Freedom Party, part of the new Austrian government, she said those who love
freedom must defend it against "those who threaten it, even those who would
steal its very name." In a review of U.S. foreign policy around the world, she
also told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that all countries
contain "apostles of hate," which imposes on others the duty to remember the
Holocaust, prevent genocide and protect minority rights.
A number of U.S. legislators introduced a resolution Tuesday
condemning past statements made by Jorg Haider and calling on President
Clinton, his Cabinet and other members of Congress to oppose the inclusion of
Haider's far-right party in the new Austrian government. The congressmen
urged American citizens to send a message to Austria by refusing to travel
there
or purchase Austrian products.
The top professional at North America's Jewish education agency will
also staff a newly formed group that promotes Jewish learning and spiritual
rebirth. While keeping his current post, the Jewish Education Service of North
America's Jonathan Woocher will also head the Renaissance and Renewal
Pillar, one of four committees created to shape the agenda of the United
Jewish
Communities. The UJC is the new national fund-raising and social service
organization driven by local Jewish federations created from the merger
of the Council of Jewish Federations, United Jewish Appeal and United Israel
Appeal.
A Hungarian court ordered the state to show why 10 Nazi-looted
paintings claimed by a Jewish woman living in the United States should not be
returned to her. The judges added Wednesday that the state museum had already
agreed that Hungarian-born Martha Nierenberg is the legal owner of the works.
Ten Israeli plastic makers disclosed in a survey that they have
conducted indirect trade with Syria valued at $1 million during the past
year, the
Manufacturers Association of Israel said Wednesday. The association did not
divulge the names of the factories or other details.
Alif Gondoz, an 11-year-old Turkish girl who was rescued from the
rubble of her home by an Israeli team four days after last August's
devastating
earthquake there, fulfilled her dream of visiting the Al-Aksa mosque in
Jerusalem. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee brought Gondoz
to Israel this week for rehabilitation. Her entire family was killed in the
disaster
and one of her feet was amputated.
U.S. officials stepped into a dispute over church property in the West
Bank town of Jericho that has kept two American nuns holed up in a monastery
for nearly a month. The move came Tuesday, when Palestinian police broke the
gate locks at the Jericho Garden Monastery and bulldozed an orange tree. Maria
Stephanopoulos, a sister of former White House spokesman George
Stephanopoulos, said U.S. consular officials intervened when police tried to
move her and a fellow nun to the edge of the compound.
A black Mercedes limousine that Hitler regularly used won't be sold to
anyone, according to an official with Canada's War Museum. The officials
added that the board of the Ottawa-based museum reached the decision after
about 200 Canadians objected to the museum's plan to auction off the limo.
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