WJC News Update - More than 400 Jews gather in Montenegro for fourth annual Mahar conference for Friday, 4 November 2016 from World Jewish Congress of New York, New York, United States "News updates from the World Jewish Congress website - Friday, 04 November 2016"
More than 400 Jews gather in Montenegro for fourth annual Mahar conference
Delegates from 15 countries in southeast and central Europe take part in conference aimed at strengthening the cultural identity and community of Jews around the region and their relationship with Israel.
Russia has one of lowest rates of anti-Semitism in the world, survey conducted by Russian Jewish Congress finds
Study held prior to the first Moscow International Conference on Combating anti-Semitism, co-sponsored by the World Jewish Congress, found that only 8 percent of Russians expressed negative attitude toward Jews.
Pro-Israel European alliance prepares to fight massive anti-Israel campaign in 2017 - Jerusalem Post
04 Nov 2016 Swiss MP warns that Israel will be “maligned as an apartheid state.”
DIASPORA by TAMARA ZIEVE \
Pro-Israel European alliance prepares to fight massive anti-Israel campaign in 2017
IDF soldiers threatened by haredi mob in Mea She’arim
Swiss MP warns that Israel will be “maligned as an apartheid state.”
Anti-Israel demonstrators march behind a banner of the BDS organization in Marseille, June 13.. (photo credit:GEORGES ROBERT / AFP)
A European organization dedicated to rallying support for Israel announced Thursday it would confront a massive anti-Israel campaign anticipated in 2017 with an initiative of its own.
Speaking at an event at the Carlton Hotel in Tel Aviv, Swiss MP Corina Eichenberger-Walther said she had “reliable information that a network has been building itself since the middle of the past year already, a network planning a campaign throughout Europe and having started the necessary funding for that.”
The goal, she said, was to malign Israel during the year of the 50th anniversary of the Six Day War, in which the IDF captured east Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights.
Israel, she said, will be accused of “having oppressed Palestine for 50 years and occupying it contrary to international law” and be painted as an “apartheid state and unjust nation.”
Eichenberger-Walther chairs the European Alliance for Israel (EAI), of which the Israeli-Swiss Association, which hosted Thursday’s event alongside the Israel-Switzerland and Liechtenstein Chamber of Commerce, is a member. The new Swiss ambassador to Israel, Jean-Daniel Ruch, also participated.
Predicting that international organizations and governments would join the ranks of the anti-Israel network, the EAI decided to develop what Eichenberger-Walther called a “friendship campaign.”
According to the EAI, it already has some 30,000 members in 23 countries and plans to make the campaign prominent in those countries.
In a closed-door session with a small group of journalists, Eichenberger-Walther admitted that the EAI had a way to go in order to counter the force of the expected anti-Israel campaign, noting that the hostile movement comprised not just BDS supporters, but also church and humanitarian groups.
“It’s a network,” she stressed, emphasizing that it had been raising funds for the campaign for over a year and was “ready” to begin its activities. She added that the EAI’s counter-campaign still lacked funds to realize its full scope, which will be focused on creating a greater understanding of Israel and highlighting its positive qualities in the fields of research, science, the environment, democracy and security.
One body founded by the EAI is the European Parliamentary Alliance for Israel, which seeks to unite pro-Israel parliamentarians.
While the defamation campaign will apparently present Israel as a lawless state, the EAI, she said, was working to ensure that there would be a strong parliamentary voice in Europe that “makes clear that Israel, with all its weaknesses and faults, is a democratic state that has a freely elected parliament and an independent judiciary.”
In the Swiss parliament, pro-Israel MPs have been working against government funding for anti-Israel NGOs, some of which have links to terrorist groups. A motion on the issue this year lost by just three votes, but Eichenberger-Walther said she believed government awareness about the issue had increased and it would now be more careful with its funding activities.
Members of the Israeli-Swiss Association have been in Israel for a week, meeting with lawmakers and representatives of the government. Eichenberger- Walther remarked that discussions with her Israeli counterparts had been fruitful, and their collaboration would help advance the campaign.
The EAI is a relatively new organization, officially founded in May 2015. It comprises mainly non-Jewish members who strive to show solidarity with Jewish communities in Europe.
An elderly Dane accused of being involved in the mass murder of Jews in Belarus during World War II will not be prosecuted, Danish authorities said Friday, saying they have "not found evidence he committed or took part in the killings."
The probe had been "very thorough" but evidence against 91-year-old Helmuth Leif Rasmussen was "limited," chief prosecutor Steen Bechmann Jacobsen said.
"To be prosecuted for participation in mass killings requires a closer connection to the crime itself. You do not prosecute a known burglar for lots of burglaries in a neighborhood simply because he was in the area at the time of break-ins. You need evidence," he told The Associated Press.
"This is a very sad day," said Ephraim Zuroff , head of the Jerusalem-based Simon Wiesenthal Center. He said Rasmussen "must be happy, the relatives of the victims are not."
In July 2015, Zuroff asked police to investigate the case after Denmark's Justice Ministry had turned down a similar request saying it was not their matter. He believed there was a strong case against Rasmussen because of documents found by Danish historians that said he was in the inner circle of the camp run by the Waffen SS where 1,400 Jews died.
"To us (Rasmussen) was part of the operation. That should have been enough to convict him for accessory to murder, Zuroff told the AP.
Bechmann Jacobsen said the 15-month investigation included "pretty good" documents at the Danish National Archives that stores historic sources, but not enough evidence.
"We have the same requirements for evidence, whether the matter is one hour old or 73 years old," he said, adding Rasmussen was in the camp from late 1942 to early 1943.
"We have thoroughly investigated the case but there is still no evidence that (Rasmussen) committed a specific crime for which he hasn't already been convicted," said Bechmann Jacobsen, adding Rasmussen had, among others, been investigated for war crimes under Danish law.
After the war, Rasmussen was sentenced to six years' imprisonment for having served as a soldier for Nazi Germany.
Now known by the name Rasboel, Rasmussen has acknowledged being among the 6,000 Danish volunteers who joined the Waffen SS after Germany invaded the Scandinavian country in 1940. Rasmussen, who was not available for comment Friday, has vehemently denied involvement in the killings.
One of the authors of the book "En skole i vold" (A Book of Violence), Dennis Larsen, says Rasmussen admitted seeing Jews being killed and thrown into mass graves.
"But he always said he was a bystander," Larsen earlier told the AP.
Bechmann Jacobsen added that another Dane who now holds a Swedish passport and who was at the camp at the same time as Rasmussen won't be prosecuted either for the same reasons.
Rasmussen, the Swedish national and the Jerusalem-based Simon Wiesenthal Center were informed of the decision Wednesday and Thursday.
Zuroff said he was "strongly considering an appeal" of the decision to Denmark's top prosecutor.
For 41% of UK Jews, faith is an issue in the workplace
Pro-Israel European alliance prepares to fight massive anti-Israel campaign in 2017According to survey by UK chief rabbi’s Shabbat initiative.
JEWISH MEN share a conversation in Golders Green, London, in January 2015.. (photo credit:REUTERS)
Four out of 10 British Jews feel that their faith has been an issue in the workplace at some point in their careers, according to results of a survey released by an initiative of Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis on Thursday.
The survey was conducted by the rabbi’s ShabbatUK initiative, which seeks to promote active engagement with Shabbat throughout the Jewish community.
Seventy-two percent of those who took part in the survey said they openly discussed their faith in the workplace often or very often, while 27% were reluctant to do so. Seventeen percent felt uncomfortable or very uncomfortable displaying their faith in the workplace through religious dress or religious symbols.
The study was released one week ahead of ShabbatUK, which is taking place on Friday, November 11, as part of the wider South African- inspired global Shabbat Project. On that date in the UK, Shabbat will come in around 4 p.m. For many, the early hour may pose a challenge with regard to work hours.
The survey found that 32% would feel uncomfortable or very uncomfortable asking their employer to leave early for Shabbat. The key reasons stated were a reluctance to stand out from colleagues or work pressures making it difficult to leave early.
On the other hand, 28% of those who leave early, or have ever asked to leave early, felt that their colleagues were understanding and supportive, compared to 17% who felt there was a lack of understanding. From the perspective of employers, the study found that 56% felt comfortable or very comfortable with their employees leaving early for religious reasons.
“Modern Britain celebrates diversity and promotes freedom of religious belief, and it is encouraging to see that largely borne out in this research,” remarked Mirvis.
“But it is sad to see that there are still some for whom faith is something to be kept relatively quiet or avoided altogether while at work. Faith shapes the way that people live their lives, and as such, it has an important part to play in the workplace. Issues like trust, commitment and a strong work ethic are crucial in any professional environment and they are also important aspects of a religious life,” he said.
He expressed the hope that ShabbatUK will act as a catalyst for individuals to embrace their faith in the workplace, as well as in society in general.
The survey was conducted by ShabbatUK over the Internet, among 190 Jewish people between September 1 and October 27.
Amy and George Camara and two of their four children arriving in Israel, Nov. 2, 2016. (Courtesy of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews)
(JTA) — As a Jewish family originally from the Ivory Coast, Amy and George Camara and their four children felt somewhat immune to the rising anti-Semitic thuggery in France.
The Camaras, relieved to leave their war-torn African country, settled in the northern French city of Lille in 2012. Because they fit no one’s Jewish stereotype, they said they were able to live as Jews without fear — despite, in recent years, the rise in attacks on French Jews from a small segment of Muslim extremists.
But the Camaras soon discovered that belonging to both the African and Jewish minorities also came with its own set of challenges, said Amy, the 53-year-old daughter of an Ivorian father and a French Jewish Holocaust survivor. The difficulties prompted the family to again pack their suitcases and leave France — for Israel, the only country where this unique Jewish family says it can live comfortably according to their identity.
For the Camaras, whom Amy describes as “proudly Jewish but not too observant,” life in France wasn’t “truly comfortable,” she said.
Precisely because no one from their immediate environment thought they might be Jewish, “people, even friends, would say the most awful lies about Israel and Jews in our presence,” Amy said.
“There was no single incident that made us decide to leave, it’s more of a cumulative effect,” she said.
On Wednesday, the Camaras and their kids — aged 25, 22 and twins who are 15 — landed at Ben Gurion Airport aboard a flight organized by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
“The bottom line is that Israel is the only place for us to live as Jews comfortably, safely and freely,” Amy told JTA ahead of her immigration, or aliyah, to Israel.
That comfort and freedom was paramount, given the remarkable survival story of Amy’s mother, 78-year-old Solange Shuster. Given up for adoption as a toddler by her French Jewish parents who sought to save her life from the Nazis, she was the only member of her immediate family who survived the Holocaust. She met her Ivorian husband in France and moved with him to Abidjan, the Ivory Coast’s largest city and economic engine, after their marriage in 1967. (Shuster now lives in France.)
Amy Camara recalls a happy and safe childhood in Africa, where she and George, a commercial airline pilot, raised their children as Jews. But life took a turn for the worse in 2002, when the Ivory Coast was plunged into its first civil war. When another armed conflict broke out in 2011, the Camaras decided to leave “because of a combination of factors that meant we could no longer live safely there,” Amy said.
Unfortunately, the Camara family chose the wrong year to move to France.
French Jews arriving at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, Nov. 2, 2016. (Courtesy of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews)
In 2012, the murder of four French Jews in Toulouse by an Islamist gunman ushered in what the president of the Conference of European Rabbis, Pinchas Goldschmidt, has called a “wave of jihadist murders and other attacks” that has had a deep impact on the feeling of safety of many of the 500,000 Jews living in France.
Amid repeated attacks on Jewish targets — French Islamists have killed 12 Jews in France and Belgium in three major attacks since 2012 — some 20,000 Jews have left France for Israel, including nearly 8,000 people who came in 2015 alone. That figure, a record, was more than four times the number of French Jews who came in 2011.
Aliyah from France has slowed down this year, with only some 4,000 Jews making the move to Israel in the first 10 months of 2016. Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky attributes the decrease to “some improvement in the security situation” due to the robust response by French authorities to anti-Semitic attacks.
On Wednesday, the Camaras arrived in Israel on a flight with some 50 Jews who were also making aliyah. According to Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, the Camara family’s story “is a special one that weaves within it the story of the Jewish nation as we go from the Holocaust to rebirth, ending in Israel,” he said.
The day prior to the Camaras’ arrival, the group brought approximately 300 Jews from Ukraine to Israel, including refugees from the rebel-held east. Eckstein’s organization has brought more than 4,000 people to Israel since it began directly organizing aliyah two years ago.
In Israel, Amy and George plan to settle in Ashkelon, a coastal city with some 6,000 Ethiopian Jews — the country’s seventh-largest population of members of that community.
While Amy has heard claims by some Ethiopian Jews that they face discrimination in Israel because of their skin color, she is optimistic that she won’t encounter any racism in the Jewish state.
“I think a lot of it depends on whether you perceive yourself as a victim,” she said. “I’ve never felt excluded by any Jewish community, Sephardi or Ashkenazi, so I expect we’ll integrate easily in Israel, God willing.”
ISIS leader in rare recording: Jews give everything to fight against jihad
Analysis: ISIS leader al-Baghdadi is living on borrowed time
Report: ISIS 'Rambo' killed in battle south of Mosul
"Jews, Christians, Shiite heretics and all nations have allocated their media, all their money, all their equipment, and all their armies to fight against Muslims and jihad fighters in Mosul."
A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr al Baghdadi made a rare public appearance at a mosque in the center of Mosul, on July 5, 2014.. (photo credit:REUTERS)
Elusive Islamic State leader Abu Bkr al-Baghdadicalled upon residents of Mosul on Thursday to fight what he said are the enemies of God, and called on ISIS fighters to destroy the Iraqi city's "infidels" and invade Turkey.
In a 31-minute audio recording published by the organization "Al-Furkan" under the title "This is what we were promised by Allah and His messenger," two weeks after the beginning of the Iraqi military's operation to liberate Mosul, Baghdadi mainly addressed the battle for the ISIS-held city.
He warned his men against retreat or escape from battle.
"Total war and the great Jihad is waged by the Islamic State today, with Allah's help we amplify our strong belief that everything is dedicated to the great victory," said Baghdadi in his first released tape of this year. "It is a sign heralding the victory that Allah revealed is assured to His followers."
Baghdadi added that "Jews, Christians, Shiite heretics and all nations have allocated their media, all their money, all their equipment, and all their armies to fight against Muslims and jihadi fighters in Mosul after they saw it as one of the bases of Islam and a beacon of the caliphate."
He warned fighters against weakness in the Jihad: "soldiers of the caliphate, if you succeed in standing in front of United States aircraft and members of its alliance, then stand firm." He also called on suicide bombers to "turn the night of the infidels into day. Completely destroy their homes and make their blood flow in rivers."
The ISIS leader also appealed to Sunni residents of Iraq and told them that Shi'ites had invaded their country. "They kill your men and women," he said, and warned against the Shi'ite invasion of Sunni countries.
Baghdadi attacked Turkey for its alliance with the "infidel converts," as he put it. In addition, called on Hezbollah fighters to invade the country, and turn it into a flaming war zone. He also called on Syria to kill all Turkish soldiers. "Caliphate soldiers of the Levant, Turkish heretic soldiers have come to you, and their blood is like the blood of a dog, so show them cruelty, roast them with furious fire, and take revenge for the sake of religion on the brothers of devils and the allies of those who have converted."
Even Saudi Arabia was included in Baghdadi's all-out verbal war. In the tape, he called on his men to harm Saudi police personnel, princes, ministers, writers and journalists.
Mehdi Nemmouche wanted in Paris over suspected involvement in captivity of French journalists in Syria, months before Brussels attack that killed 4 BY AFP
Pictures released on June 1, 2014, shows the 29-year-old suspected gunman Mehdi Nemmouche. (Photo credit: AFP)
BRUSSELS — A Belgian court Thursday backed the eventual extradition to France of the suspect in a deadly attack on a Jewish museum in Brussels in 2014, prosecutors said.
French national Mehdi Nemmouche, 31, is also suspected by Paris of being among the captors of four French journalists who were kept hostage in Syria.
“This morning, the pre-trial chamber of the Brussels court of first degree has declared enforceable the European Arrest Warrant that had been issued by the French judicial authorities against Mehdi Nemmouche,” the Belgian federal prosecutor said in a statement.
He can be sent to France “when Belgium no longer needs him” in relation to the Jewish Museum attack in which four people were killed, a spokesman for the prosecutor told AFP.
Mira and Emanuel Riva, an Israeli couple killed in the terror attack on the Brussels Jewish Museum on May 24, 2014 (photo credit: Courtesy)
On May 24, 2014, Nemmouche is believed to have opened fire in the entrance hall of the museum in the center of the Belgian capital, killing two Israeli tourists, a French volunteer and a Belgian museum receptionist.
Nemmouche was arrested six days later in the southern French port city of Marseille and sent to Belgium two months later, where he faces trial at an unspecified date in the future. He was arrested during a routine customs inspection with a bag full of weapons similar to the ones used at the museum.
The museum reopened four months later under heavy security.
Policemen stand guard around the site of a shooting near the Jewish Museum in Brussels, on May 24, 2014. Three people were killed and one badly injured in a shoot-out Saturday near the Jewish Museum in Brussels city centre. Photo credit: AFP/Belga/ Nicolas Maeterlinck)
Nemmouche, who is believed to have fought with Islamists in Syria, was under surveillance by French and Belgian security services, according to prosecutors in both countries. French authorities have identified him as one of the jihadists who kept four French journalists hostage until they were freed in April 2014 in Syria.
In September 2015 France extradited another suspect in the Jewish Museum attack — Mounir Atallah — to Belgium.
JTA contributed to this report
Anti-Israel demonstrators march behind a banner of the BDS organization in Marseille, June 13.. (photo credit:GEORGES ROBERT / AFP)
A European organization dedicated to rallying support for Israel announced Thursday it would confront a massive anti-Israel campaign anticipated in 2017 with an initiative of its own.
Speaking at an event at the Carlton Hotel in Tel Aviv, Swiss MP Corina Eichenberger-Walther said she had “reliable information that a network has been building itself since the middle of the past year already, a network planning a campaign throughout Europe and having started the necessary funding for that.”
The goal, she said, was to malign Israel during the year of the 50th anniversary of the Six Day War, in which the IDF captured east Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights.
Israel, she said, will be accused of “having oppressed Palestine for 50 years and occupying it contrary to international law” and be painted as an “apartheid state and unjust nation.”
Eichenberger-Walther chairs the European Alliance for Israel (EAI), of which the Israeli-Swiss Association, which hosted Thursday’s event alongside the Israel-Switzerland and Liechtenstein Chamber of Commerce, is a member. The new Swiss ambassador to Israel, Jean-Daniel Ruch, also participated.
Predicting that international organizations and governments would join the ranks of the anti-Israel network, the EAI decided to develop what Eichenberger-Walther called a “friendship campaign.”
According to the EAI, it already has some 30,000 members in 23 countries and plans to make the campaign prominent in those countries.
In a closed-door session with a small group of journalists, Eichenberger-Walther admitted that the EAI had a way to go in order to counter the force of the expected anti-Israel campaign, noting that the hostile movement comprised not just BDS supporters, but also church and humanitarian groups.
“It’s a network,” she stressed, emphasizing that it had been raising funds for the campaign for over a year and was “ready” to begin its activities. She added that the EAI’s counter-campaign still lacked funds to realize its full scope, which will be focused on creating a greater understanding of Israel and highlighting its positive qualities in the fields of research, science, the environment, democracy and security.
One body founded by the EAI is the European Parliamentary Alliance for Israel, which seeks to unite pro-Israel parliamentarians.
While the defamation campaign will apparently present Israel as a lawless state, the EAI, she said, was working to ensure that there would be a strong parliamentary voice in Europe that “makes clear that Israel, with all its weaknesses and faults, is a democratic state that has a freely elected parliament and an independent judiciary.”
In the Swiss parliament, pro-Israel MPs have been working against government funding for anti-Israel NGOs, some of which have links to terrorist groups. A motion on the issue this year lost by just three votes, but Eichenberger-Walther said she believed government awareness about the issue had increased and it would now be more careful with its funding activities.
Members of the Israeli-Swiss Association have been in Israel for a week, meeting with lawmakers and representatives of the government. Eichenberger- Walther remarked that discussions with her Israeli counterparts had been fruitful, and their collaboration would help advance the campaign.
The EAI is a relatively new organization, officially founded in May 2015. It comprises mainly non-Jewish members who strive to show solidarity with Jewish communities in Europe.
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Denmark ends probe into Dane over WWII murder of Jews - ABC
04 Nov 2016 An elderly Dane accused of being involved in the mass murder of Jews in Belarus during World War II will not be prosecuted, Danish authorities said Friday, saying they have "not found evidence he committed or took part in the killings."
Denmark Ends Probe Into Dane Over WWII Murder of Jews by JAN M. OLSEN, ASSOCIATED PRESSCOPENHAGEN, Denmark Denmark ends probe into Dane over WWII murder of Jews - ABC
04 Nov 2016 An elderly Dane accused of being involved in the mass murder of Jews in Belarus during World War II will not be prosecuted, Danish authorities said Friday, saying they have "not found evidence he committed or took part in the killings."
An elderly Dane accused of being involved in the mass murder of Jews in Belarus during World War II will not be prosecuted, Danish authorities said Friday, saying they have "not found evidence he committed or took part in the killings."
The probe had been "very thorough" but evidence against 91-year-old Helmuth Leif Rasmussen was "limited," chief prosecutor Steen Bechmann Jacobsen said.
"To be prosecuted for participation in mass killings requires a closer connection to the crime itself. You do not prosecute a known burglar for lots of burglaries in a neighborhood simply because he was in the area at the time of break-ins. You need evidence," he told The Associated Press.
"This is a very sad day," said Ephraim Zuroff , head of the Jerusalem-based Simon Wiesenthal Center. He said Rasmussen "must be happy, the relatives of the victims are not."
In July 2015, Zuroff asked police to investigate the case after Denmark's Justice Ministry had turned down a similar request saying it was not their matter. He believed there was a strong case against Rasmussen because of documents found by Danish historians that said he was in the inner circle of the camp run by the Waffen SS where 1,400 Jews died.
"To us (Rasmussen) was part of the operation. That should have been enough to convict him for accessory to murder, Zuroff told the AP.
Bechmann Jacobsen said the 15-month investigation included "pretty good" documents at the Danish National Archives that stores historic sources, but not enough evidence.
"We have the same requirements for evidence, whether the matter is one hour old or 73 years old," he said, adding Rasmussen was in the camp from late 1942 to early 1943.
"We have thoroughly investigated the case but there is still no evidence that (Rasmussen) committed a specific crime for which he hasn't already been convicted," said Bechmann Jacobsen, adding Rasmussen had, among others, been investigated for war crimes under Danish law.
After the war, Rasmussen was sentenced to six years' imprisonment for having served as a soldier for Nazi Germany.
Now known by the name Rasboel, Rasmussen has acknowledged being among the 6,000 Danish volunteers who joined the Waffen SS after Germany invaded the Scandinavian country in 1940. Rasmussen, who was not available for comment Friday, has vehemently denied involvement in the killings.
One of the authors of the book "En skole i vold" (A Book of Violence), Dennis Larsen, says Rasmussen admitted seeing Jews being killed and thrown into mass graves.
"But he always said he was a bystander," Larsen earlier told the AP.
Bechmann Jacobsen added that another Dane who now holds a Swedish passport and who was at the camp at the same time as Rasmussen won't be prosecuted either for the same reasons.
Rasmussen, the Swedish national and the Jerusalem-based Simon Wiesenthal Center were informed of the decision Wednesday and Thursday.
Zuroff said he was "strongly considering an appeal" of the decision to Denmark's top prosecutor.
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For 41% of UK Jews, faith is an issue in the workplace - Jerusalem Post
Survey was conducted by the rabbi’s ShabbatUK initiative, which seeks to promote active engagement with Shabbat throughout the Jewish community.
DIASPORA by TAMARA ZIEVE For 41% of UK Jews, faith is an issue in the workplace - Jerusalem Post
Survey was conducted by the rabbi’s ShabbatUK initiative, which seeks to promote active engagement with Shabbat throughout the Jewish community.
For 41% of UK Jews, faith is an issue in the workplace
Pro-Israel European alliance prepares to fight massive anti-Israel campaign in 2017According to survey by UK chief rabbi’s Shabbat initiative.
JEWISH MEN share a conversation in Golders Green, London, in January 2015.. (photo credit:REUTERS)
Four out of 10 British Jews feel that their faith has been an issue in the workplace at some point in their careers, according to results of a survey released by an initiative of Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis on Thursday.
The survey was conducted by the rabbi’s ShabbatUK initiative, which seeks to promote active engagement with Shabbat throughout the Jewish community.
Seventy-two percent of those who took part in the survey said they openly discussed their faith in the workplace often or very often, while 27% were reluctant to do so. Seventeen percent felt uncomfortable or very uncomfortable displaying their faith in the workplace through religious dress or religious symbols.
The study was released one week ahead of ShabbatUK, which is taking place on Friday, November 11, as part of the wider South African- inspired global Shabbat Project. On that date in the UK, Shabbat will come in around 4 p.m. For many, the early hour may pose a challenge with regard to work hours.
The survey found that 32% would feel uncomfortable or very uncomfortable asking their employer to leave early for Shabbat. The key reasons stated were a reluctance to stand out from colleagues or work pressures making it difficult to leave early.
On the other hand, 28% of those who leave early, or have ever asked to leave early, felt that their colleagues were understanding and supportive, compared to 17% who felt there was a lack of understanding. From the perspective of employers, the study found that 56% felt comfortable or very comfortable with their employees leaving early for religious reasons.
“Modern Britain celebrates diversity and promotes freedom of religious belief, and it is encouraging to see that largely borne out in this research,” remarked Mirvis.
“But it is sad to see that there are still some for whom faith is something to be kept relatively quiet or avoided altogether while at work. Faith shapes the way that people live their lives, and as such, it has an important part to play in the workplace. Issues like trust, commitment and a strong work ethic are crucial in any professional environment and they are also important aspects of a religious life,” he said.
He expressed the hope that ShabbatUK will act as a catalyst for individuals to embrace their faith in the workplace, as well as in society in general.
The survey was conducted by ShabbatUK over the Internet, among 190 Jewish people between September 1 and October 27.
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Fleeing anti-Semitism in France, an African Jewish family makes aliyah - JTA
The Camaras, relieved to leave their war-torn African country, settled in the northern French city of Lille in 2012. Because they fit no one’s Jewish stereotype, they said they were able to live as Jews without fear — but that only in Israel can they really live comfortably according to their identity.
Fleeing anti-Semitism in France, an African Jewish family makes aliyah by Cnaan Liphshiz Fleeing anti-Semitism in France, an African Jewish family makes aliyah - JTA
The Camaras, relieved to leave their war-torn African country, settled in the northern French city of Lille in 2012. Because they fit no one’s Jewish stereotype, they said they were able to live as Jews without fear — but that only in Israel can they really live comfortably according to their identity.
Amy and George Camara and two of their four children arriving in Israel, Nov. 2, 2016. (Courtesy of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews)
(JTA) — As a Jewish family originally from the Ivory Coast, Amy and George Camara and their four children felt somewhat immune to the rising anti-Semitic thuggery in France.
The Camaras, relieved to leave their war-torn African country, settled in the northern French city of Lille in 2012. Because they fit no one’s Jewish stereotype, they said they were able to live as Jews without fear — despite, in recent years, the rise in attacks on French Jews from a small segment of Muslim extremists.
But the Camaras soon discovered that belonging to both the African and Jewish minorities also came with its own set of challenges, said Amy, the 53-year-old daughter of an Ivorian father and a French Jewish Holocaust survivor. The difficulties prompted the family to again pack their suitcases and leave France — for Israel, the only country where this unique Jewish family says it can live comfortably according to their identity.
For the Camaras, whom Amy describes as “proudly Jewish but not too observant,” life in France wasn’t “truly comfortable,” she said.
Precisely because no one from their immediate environment thought they might be Jewish, “people, even friends, would say the most awful lies about Israel and Jews in our presence,” Amy said.
“There was no single incident that made us decide to leave, it’s more of a cumulative effect,” she said.
On Wednesday, the Camaras and their kids — aged 25, 22 and twins who are 15 — landed at Ben Gurion Airport aboard a flight organized by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
“The bottom line is that Israel is the only place for us to live as Jews comfortably, safely and freely,” Amy told JTA ahead of her immigration, or aliyah, to Israel.
That comfort and freedom was paramount, given the remarkable survival story of Amy’s mother, 78-year-old Solange Shuster. Given up for adoption as a toddler by her French Jewish parents who sought to save her life from the Nazis, she was the only member of her immediate family who survived the Holocaust. She met her Ivorian husband in France and moved with him to Abidjan, the Ivory Coast’s largest city and economic engine, after their marriage in 1967. (Shuster now lives in France.)
Amy Camara recalls a happy and safe childhood in Africa, where she and George, a commercial airline pilot, raised their children as Jews. But life took a turn for the worse in 2002, when the Ivory Coast was plunged into its first civil war. When another armed conflict broke out in 2011, the Camaras decided to leave “because of a combination of factors that meant we could no longer live safely there,” Amy said.
Unfortunately, the Camara family chose the wrong year to move to France.
French Jews arriving at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, Nov. 2, 2016. (Courtesy of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews)
In 2012, the murder of four French Jews in Toulouse by an Islamist gunman ushered in what the president of the Conference of European Rabbis, Pinchas Goldschmidt, has called a “wave of jihadist murders and other attacks” that has had a deep impact on the feeling of safety of many of the 500,000 Jews living in France.
Amid repeated attacks on Jewish targets — French Islamists have killed 12 Jews in France and Belgium in three major attacks since 2012 — some 20,000 Jews have left France for Israel, including nearly 8,000 people who came in 2015 alone. That figure, a record, was more than four times the number of French Jews who came in 2011.
Aliyah from France has slowed down this year, with only some 4,000 Jews making the move to Israel in the first 10 months of 2016. Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky attributes the decrease to “some improvement in the security situation” due to the robust response by French authorities to anti-Semitic attacks.
On Wednesday, the Camaras arrived in Israel on a flight with some 50 Jews who were also making aliyah. According to Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, the Camara family’s story “is a special one that weaves within it the story of the Jewish nation as we go from the Holocaust to rebirth, ending in Israel,” he said.
The day prior to the Camaras’ arrival, the group brought approximately 300 Jews from Ukraine to Israel, including refugees from the rebel-held east. Eckstein’s organization has brought more than 4,000 people to Israel since it began directly organizing aliyah two years ago.
In Israel, Amy and George plan to settle in Ashkelon, a coastal city with some 6,000 Ethiopian Jews — the country’s seventh-largest population of members of that community.
While Amy has heard claims by some Ethiopian Jews that they face discrimination in Israel because of their skin color, she is optimistic that she won’t encounter any racism in the Jewish state.
“I think a lot of it depends on whether you perceive yourself as a victim,” she said. “I’ve never felt excluded by any Jewish community, Sephardi or Ashkenazi, so I expect we’ll integrate easily in Israel, God willing.”
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ISIS leader in rare recording: Jews give everything to fight against jihad - Jerusalem Post
"Jews, Christians, Shiite heretics and all nations have allocated their media, all their money, all their equipment, and all their armies to fight against Muslims and jihad fighters in Mosul."
MIDDLE EAST by YASSER OKBI/ MAARIV HASHAVUA ISIS leader in rare recording: Jews give everything to fight against jihad - Jerusalem Post
"Jews, Christians, Shiite heretics and all nations have allocated their media, all their money, all their equipment, and all their armies to fight against Muslims and jihad fighters in Mosul."
ISIS leader in rare recording: Jews give everything to fight against jihad
Analysis: ISIS leader al-Baghdadi is living on borrowed time
Report: ISIS 'Rambo' killed in battle south of Mosul
"Jews, Christians, Shiite heretics and all nations have allocated their media, all their money, all their equipment, and all their armies to fight against Muslims and jihad fighters in Mosul."
A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr al Baghdadi made a rare public appearance at a mosque in the center of Mosul, on July 5, 2014.. (photo credit:REUTERS)
Elusive Islamic State leader Abu Bkr al-Baghdadicalled upon residents of Mosul on Thursday to fight what he said are the enemies of God, and called on ISIS fighters to destroy the Iraqi city's "infidels" and invade Turkey.
In a 31-minute audio recording published by the organization "Al-Furkan" under the title "This is what we were promised by Allah and His messenger," two weeks after the beginning of the Iraqi military's operation to liberate Mosul, Baghdadi mainly addressed the battle for the ISIS-held city.
He warned his men against retreat or escape from battle.
"Total war and the great Jihad is waged by the Islamic State today, with Allah's help we amplify our strong belief that everything is dedicated to the great victory," said Baghdadi in his first released tape of this year. "It is a sign heralding the victory that Allah revealed is assured to His followers."
Baghdadi added that "Jews, Christians, Shiite heretics and all nations have allocated their media, all their money, all their equipment, and all their armies to fight against Muslims and jihadi fighters in Mosul after they saw it as one of the bases of Islam and a beacon of the caliphate."
He warned fighters against weakness in the Jihad: "soldiers of the caliphate, if you succeed in standing in front of United States aircraft and members of its alliance, then stand firm." He also called on suicide bombers to "turn the night of the infidels into day. Completely destroy their homes and make their blood flow in rivers."
The ISIS leader also appealed to Sunni residents of Iraq and told them that Shi'ites had invaded their country. "They kill your men and women," he said, and warned against the Shi'ite invasion of Sunni countries.
Baghdadi attacked Turkey for its alliance with the "infidel converts," as he put it. In addition, called on Hezbollah fighters to invade the country, and turn it into a flaming war zone. He also called on Syria to kill all Turkish soldiers. "Caliphate soldiers of the Levant, Turkish heretic soldiers have come to you, and their blood is like the blood of a dog, so show them cruelty, roast them with furious fire, and take revenge for the sake of religion on the brothers of devils and the allies of those who have converted."
Even Saudi Arabia was included in Baghdadi's all-out verbal war. In the tape, he called on his men to harm Saudi police personnel, princes, ministers, writers and journalists.
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Belgium backs extradition of Jewish Museum suspect to France - Times of Israel
French national Mehdi Nemmouche, 31, is also suspected by Paris of being among the captors of four French journalists who were kept hostage in Syria.
Belgium backs extradition of Jewish Museum suspect to France Belgium backs extradition of Jewish Museum suspect to France - Times of Israel
French national Mehdi Nemmouche, 31, is also suspected by Paris of being among the captors of four French journalists who were kept hostage in Syria.
Mehdi Nemmouche wanted in Paris over suspected involvement in captivity of French journalists in Syria, months before Brussels attack that killed 4 BY AFP
Pictures released on June 1, 2014, shows the 29-year-old suspected gunman Mehdi Nemmouche. (Photo credit: AFP)
BRUSSELS — A Belgian court Thursday backed the eventual extradition to France of the suspect in a deadly attack on a Jewish museum in Brussels in 2014, prosecutors said.
French national Mehdi Nemmouche, 31, is also suspected by Paris of being among the captors of four French journalists who were kept hostage in Syria.
“This morning, the pre-trial chamber of the Brussels court of first degree has declared enforceable the European Arrest Warrant that had been issued by the French judicial authorities against Mehdi Nemmouche,” the Belgian federal prosecutor said in a statement.
He can be sent to France “when Belgium no longer needs him” in relation to the Jewish Museum attack in which four people were killed, a spokesman for the prosecutor told AFP.
Mira and Emanuel Riva, an Israeli couple killed in the terror attack on the Brussels Jewish Museum on May 24, 2014 (photo credit: Courtesy)
On May 24, 2014, Nemmouche is believed to have opened fire in the entrance hall of the museum in the center of the Belgian capital, killing two Israeli tourists, a French volunteer and a Belgian museum receptionist.
Nemmouche was arrested six days later in the southern French port city of Marseille and sent to Belgium two months later, where he faces trial at an unspecified date in the future. He was arrested during a routine customs inspection with a bag full of weapons similar to the ones used at the museum.
The museum reopened four months later under heavy security.
Policemen stand guard around the site of a shooting near the Jewish Museum in Brussels, on May 24, 2014. Three people were killed and one badly injured in a shoot-out Saturday near the Jewish Museum in Brussels city centre. Photo credit: AFP/Belga/ Nicolas Maeterlinck)
Nemmouche, who is believed to have fought with Islamists in Syria, was under surveillance by French and Belgian security services, according to prosecutors in both countries. French authorities have identified him as one of the jihadists who kept four French journalists hostage until they were freed in April 2014 in Syria.
In September 2015 France extradited another suspect in the Jewish Museum attack — Mounir Atallah — to Belgium.
JTA contributed to this report
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This is a free service, however, if you would like to support our efforts to share this relevant and important information, you may do so with a contribution to the World Jewish Congress at www.worldjewishcongress.org/support.html
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