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Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
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Jordan keeping out Orthodox Jews
Jordan is preventing Orthodox Jewish Israelis from entering the country, ostensibly for fear they could be attacked, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said.
The announcement came Wednesday as Jordan refused entry to eight Israeli tourists at a border crossing after prayer shawls and other religious items were found.
Foreign Ministry officials told Ha’aretz that Israeli officials have been trying to convince Jordan to change the policy.
Australian editorial cartoon blasted
An anti-Sharon cartoon in one of Australia’s leading newspapers is causing controversy.
Melbourne’s leading broadsheet, The Age, printed a cartoon last week depicting two characters discussing Ariel Sharon’s health.
One tells the other, “There was a small movement in his right arm.” The other character responds, “So he’s fit enough to work. That’s all the movement it takes to order a missile attack against an old Palestinian man in a wheelchair,” a reference to Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, whom Israel assassinated in 2004.
This is not the first time cartoonist Michael Leunig has had a brush with the Australian Jewish community: In 2002 he was responsible for a cartoon equating Nazi Germany and Israel.
The paper’s acting editor, Paul Ramadge, told media, “We thought it was important in terms of what The Age stands for — a broad church of voices and democracy — to allow Michael to express his view.”
Following letters condemning the cartoon, Leunig wrote an 800-word reply, saying, “My offending cartoon raises the very serious question of political assassinations and the moral ease with which they are conducted.”
Group opens D.C. office
Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, which tries to build support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, opened a Washington office.
The group formally launched the office Tuesday at a Capitol Hill reception.
The office, run by Rob Levy, already has been operating for six weeks, and was active with other dovish groups in getting 108 U.S. representatives to sign a letter urging U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to intensify her involvement in the peace process.
Levy previously was a staffer for former Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), now the governor of New Jersey, and for the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
Pro-Israel program gets grant
A program that teaches pro-Israel advocacy to U.S. high school students received a $100,000 grant.
The matching grant for the Caravan for Democracy High School Edition program, which prepares students to back Israel when they reach college, comes from the Koret Foundation.
The grant will support the program’s efforts in schools in northern California. The program is a joint project of the Jewish National Fund, Media Watch International and the American Friends of Likud.
http://www.jta.org/
posted by Somebody @ 10:29 PM Permanent Link
 
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