Friday, January 14, 2005
(JTA) - Gaza bombing kills six
Palestinian terrorists killed six Israeli civilians at a Gaza Strip border crossing. Four more Israelis were wounded in the attack Thursday night. A massive truck bomb, believed to have weighed nearly 250 pounds, was used to blow a hole in the wall separating the Israeli and Palestinian sides of the Karni Crossing. Two bombers then crossed through the hole and detonated explosives attached to their bodies, killing the Israelis, according to Israeli media. A gunbattle ensued, and Israeli aircraft later that night struck a Hamas target in the Gaza Strip, Ha'aretz reported. Three groups claimed joint responsibility for the attack - Hamas, a small group known as the Popular Resistance Committees, and the Al Aksa Brigades, a terrorist wing of Palestinian Authority President-elect Mahmoud Abbas' own Fatah movement. The dead Israelis were identified as Dror Gizri, Herzl Shlomo, 51, Ivan Shmilov, 54, all of Sderot; Ofer Tiri, 23, of Ashkelon; Ibrahim Kahili, 46, of Umm al-Ghanem; and Munam Abu Sabia, 33, of Daboriyah.
(JTA) - Israel gives Abbas time
Israel is giving the Palestinian Authority president time to control terrorist groups despite Thursday night's attack in the Gaza Strip. "In order to try to prevent the next attack, we have to try and strengthen Abu Mazen as a leader, based on the assumption that he can control the terror groups," Justice Minister Tzipi Livni told Israel Army Radio, using the nickname of Mahmoud Abbas, the newly elected president. Abbas has said he will seek to persuade terrorists to lay down their arms, but will not take action against them.
(JTA) - Gaza closed off
Israel closed the three checkpoints connecting the Gaza Strip to Israel and Egypt until the Palestinians take steps to fight terrorism. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and the Israel Defense Forces' chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon, decided on the step Friday after six Israelis were killed in a Palestinian terrorist attack at one of the checkpoints Thursday night. Brig. Gen. Avi Kochavi, commander of the IDF's Gaza Division, said the amount of goods allowed into Gaza would fall drastically after the attack, but that the army would do what it could to reduce damage to innocent civilians, Ha'aretz reported.
(JTA) - Charles wants sons to visit Auschwitz
Prince Charles ordered his sons to visit Auschwitz in the wake of a Nazi costume scandal, a newspaper said. Prince Harry, the younger son of Charles and the late Princess Diana, spurred international outrage when he appeared at a costume party wearing a Nazi uniform with a swastika. A terse apology did little to assuage British and Jewish anger, and Charles wants Harry and his older brother Prince William to visit the death camp, Britain's The Sun newspaper reported Friday. Charles is furious with both sons, because William - considered the more serious of the two and second in line to the throne - was in the costume shop when Harry chose the costume.
(JTA) - U.S. aliyah within 'Green Line'
Only three percent of North American immigrants to Israel in recent years have settled in the West Bank or Gaza Strip, a new report says. The figures were released by Nefesh B'Nefesh, a three-year-old private group that helps coordinate U.S. aliyah along with the Jewish Agency for Israel. According to Danny Oberman, the group's director of immigrant absorption, "eighty percent of our olim settle in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh or Modi'in," Ha'aretz reported. The immigrants do not consider small settlements, because "people go where they feel comfortable, and people don't feel comfortable there," he said.
(JTA) - New Gaza crime-fighting force
A new elite Palestinian Authority security unit of 750 officers will fight crime in the Gaza Strip, but not terrorists. Brig. Gen. Abdel Razek Majaideh announced the creation of the unit Friday. The men, culled from an array of security forces, have trained for three months and will use new uniforms, cars and equipment to fight crime in the increasingly chaotic strip. The unit, partly supported by Britain, will not disarm terrorist groups; under a plan to consolidate myriad P.A. security services into three security forces, that task is to be left to another force.
(JTA) - Hamas leader: We may stop attacks
Hamas is considering stopping attacks inside Israel, a leader of the terrorist group said. "We read the regional and the international reality and the changes that have taken place based on this reality and we take positions according to these changes," West Bank Hamas leader Hassan Yousef said Friday, according to an Associated Press report. He said Palestinians were weary of the violence. Leaders of the group in the Gaza Strip have said that terrorism will continue.
(JTA) - Palestinian think-tank founder dies
A Palestinian-American intellectual who founded the first Palestinian think tank in Washington died. Hisham Sharabi, 78, died Thursday in Beirut. In 1991 he founded the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine to redress what he believed was a lack of pro-Palestinian voices in Washington. Sharabi promoted relatively moderate views and believed in dialogue. He once recalled standing at the port in Jaffa, where he was born, in 1993: "Standing where I often stood so many years ago, I felt only the bitterness and anger all Palestinians feel when they go back to where they were born and where their grandparents were born and spent their lives before becoming refugees," he said. "Does the solution lie in the reversal of what happened 50 years ago and the destruction of Israel? No, the clock cannot be put back, the past cannot be redeemed, Israel's destruction cannot be the goal. The conflict's real solution cannot be a zero-sum outcome, but only a political compromise."
(JTA) - Strip simmers on
Israeli forces killed an unarmed Palestinian man and foiled a car-bombing in the Gaza Strip. Troops searching the town of Beit Lahiya for terrorists before dawn Thursday opened fire on a car as it sped toward them, killing the driver. It later emerged that he was a local man taking his pregnant neighbor to the hospital; she was unharmed. Hours later, an Israeli helicopter gunship rocketed a car that had been left outside the Kfar Darom settlement in southern Gaza. The resulting explosion, fiercer than what a missile would cause, led military experts to conclude that the vehicle contained a bomb and was to have been used in an attack.
(JTA) - Abbas talks peace
Mahmoud Abbas reaffirmed the Palestinian commitment to the "road map" peace plan. "There are mutual obligations in the road map and we're serious about starting to implement our obligations immediately," the Palestinian Authority president-elect told Christian clergy visiting his Ramallah headquarters Thursday. "We hope the Israelis will implement their obligations as well." The internationally backed plan seeks to establish a Palestinian state at the end of a three-year process of reciprocal steps. However, Abbas has said he will not carry out the Palestinians' central obligation under the plan to dismantle terrorist groups, so Israel gave only a cautious welcome to his statements. "The question now is whether he has the will and determination to bring Palestinian terror to an end," Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said. "His test is now." The Palestinians point to Israel's own failure to meet its obligation to remove illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank.
(JTA) - WJC adviser: Group will meet A.G.'s expectations
An adviser to the World Jewish Congress said the group will work to bring its finances in line with the expectations of New York's attorney general. Robert Abrams, a former New York State attorney general who now serves as special counsel to the WJC, said he had been in contact with the office of the current attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, to indicate that the group would cooperate with an informal inquiry Spitzer launched into allegations of financial impropriety. JTA obtained a transcript of Abrams' videotaped address to the WJC's plenary assembly earlier this week in Brussels. Together with Steven Herbits, the WJC's newly elected secretary-general, Abrams said he would "ask appropriate questions, evaluate conduct and review documentation for all revenue streams, allocations and expenditures. With this information we will be able to bring the World Jewish Congress up to the governance standards of an organization with its worldwide stature, and to meet the expectations of the attorney general's office."
(JTA) - Wallenberg petitioned launched
The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation launched a petition calling on the United Nations to solve the mystery of the Holocaust rescuer's disappearance. Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat, was last seen Jan. 17, 1945, when Soviet military officers escorted him to Red Army headquarters, alleging he was a U.S. spy. To mark the 60th anniversary of his disappearance, the foundation is hoping to collect 100,000 signatures on a worldwide petition. Wallenberg saved the lives of some 100,000 Jews when he worked as a diplomat in Budapest during World War II, forging documents that granted the Jews immunity. His initiative prompted similar efforts by other diplomats.
(JTA) - State: Russia not selling Syria missiles
Russia has no plans to sell Syria missiles, the U.S. State Department said. Secretary of State Colin Powell met with his Russian counterpart and discussed reports that Russia plans to sell advanced missiles to Syria, spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday. The United States opposes arms sales to Syria because of its support for terrorism. "The Russians have said publicly that they're not selling missiles to Syria, so I think we'll just leave it at that for the moment," Boucher said.
(JTA) - AJCongress, Committee join Al-Manar ban effort
Two U.S. Jewish groups joined a coalition demanding greater restrictions on a Hezbollah-affiliated TV station. A State Department order last month placing Al-Manar on an immigration watch list prompted a U.S. satellite carrier to drop the station, but the "Coalition against Terrorist Media" launched by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and including the American Jewish Committee and American Jewish Congress wants additional measures, according to an announcement Thursday. U.S. citizens and companies should be banned from working with Al-Manar, and the United States should encourage foreign satellite carriers to drop the station, the announcement said.
(JTA) - Abusive cop busted
An Israeli border policeman was jailed for abusing Palestinian passersby. Jerusalem District Court sentenced the patrolman to 14 months in jail Thursday after finding him guilty of leading a group of border policemen who beat and humiliated two Palestinians at a checkpoint outside the city last September. He also got a year's suspended sentence. The policeman's four subordinates are still being tried.
(JTA) - Sex and the assassin
Yitzhak Rabin's assassin was rapped for groping his fiancee during a jailhouse visit. Israeli media quoted Prisons Service officials as saying Yigal Amir, who is serving a life sentence for shooting the Israeli prime minister in 1995, "got frisky" with fiancee Larissa Trimbobbler when they met under guard Thursday. According to regulations, inmates are allowed to give visitors a friendly kiss but no more. Trimbobbler and Amir announced they had married via an intermediary last year, but the Prisons Service denied their appeal to consummate the union. According to reports, Amir had his visitation privileges suspended after Thursday's grope.
(JTA) - Jew named Polish foreign minister
A Jewish man was appointed foreign minister of Poland. Adam Daniel Rotfeld, 67, was named to the post Jan. 5. He previously served as deputy foreign minister.
(JTA) - Former CIA man praises 'covert' pro-Israel action
Pro-Israel lobbyists have run an enviable "covert action" in the United States, a former top CIA analyst said. Michael Scheuer, who wrote a best-selling book criticizing the Bush administration's counterterrorism policies last summer, while he still worked for the CIA, said the U.S.-Israel relationship was a case of the tail wagging the dog. "I just think it does America tremendous harm in the Islamic world for us to be so obviously the dog that's led around by the tail," Scheuer said Thursday at a Middle East Policy Council briefing in Washington. He suggested that the United States should reconsider its aid to Israel, but that such a debate was impossible. "I think the Israelis have done a marvelous job in terms of being able to control the nature of debate in this country over our policies toward Israel," he said. "Whether it's people sending out from AIPAC a list of rules on how to review my books or, you know, the fact that if you criticize Israel you're an anti-Semite, it's a tremendous covert action. I wish our intelligence community could have done the same over the course of the past 30 years anywhere."
(JTA) - Reform: Protect church-state barrier
The Reform movement joined a coalition of religious groups who say the Bush administration and its allies are threatening the constitutional separation of church and state. "In recent years the religious right, the Bush administration and some members of Congress have been attempting to tear down the wall between religion and government, putting limits on the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion and freedom from religion," the statement by the Interfaith Alliance said. Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Reform movement's Religious Action Center, appeared at a press conference Thursday announcing the initiative. "Out of the religious right's triumphalism after November's election, threats to the wall separating church and state have intensified," he said, citing an effort to allow houses of worship to engage in partisan political activity while maintaining tax-exempt status.
(JTA) - RJC backs Bush Social Security plan
The Republican Jewish coalition launched an ad campaign supporting President Bush's efforts to modify Social Security. The RJC ads, to appear in Jewish papers, say Bush's plan to privately invest some of the money they pay into Social Security "is about protecting Social Security for the future while maintaining benefits for today's seniors." Bush and his defenders say Social Security is headed for bankruptcy; Democrats say the program is solvent and that the plan is a boondoggle for Bush allies on Wall Street.
(JTA) - Religious leaders want Mideast envoy
Nearly 30 religious leaders petitioned President Bush to dispatch an envoy to push Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Officials from Jewish, Muslim and Christian groups signed a letter to Bush urging him to appoint an envoy to the region now that PLO head Mahmoud Abbas, considered a relative moderate by Israel and the United States, has been elected Palestinian Authority president. "The United States is still the only power that can exert the kind of influence that will be necessary to keep these negotiations on course," Rabbi Paul Menitoff, executive vice president of the Reform Movement's Central Conference of American Rabbis, told the New York Times. The statement calls for a two-state solution to the conflict and urges the Bush administration to spearhead efforts to raise aid for the Palestinians. Bush appointed several temporary envoys during his first term, but they failed to bring the parties back to peace talks because of rampant violence.
(JTA) - Syria missile deal denied
Russia denied reports that it plans to sell Syria missiles that could threaten Israel. "We do not have any negotiations with Syria on the possible shipment of such missiles," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov was quoted as saying Thursday in response to reports that Damascus had placed an order with Moscow for shoulder- launched SA-18 missiles and ground-to-ground Iskander-E missiles. On Wednesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Jerusalem was trying to persuade Moscow to call off the reported deal, and the U.S. State Department cautioned Russian against arming Syria, a state sponsor of terrorism. Israel fears Syrian missiles could find their way to Hezbollah or Palestinian terrorists.
(JTA) - Heil Harry!
Britain's Prince Harry apologized after a newspaper published photographs of him dressed as a Nazi at a friend's costume party. The 20-year-old son of the late Princess Diana, who is third in line to the throne, was photographed wearing a swastika armband and what appeared to be a German army desert uniform. The picture appeared on the front page of the Sun newspaper with the caption "Harry the Nazi." In a statement, the prince said, "I am very sorry if I caused any offense or embarrassment to anyone. It was a poor choice of costume and I apologize." The incident will be especially embarrassing for Prince Harry's grandparents, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, who are to host a reception for Holocaust survivors at St James' Palace on Jan. 27, Holocaust Memorial Day. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said, "I think anybody who tries to pass it off as bad taste must be made aware that this can encourage others to think that perhaps that period was not as bad as we teach the young generation in the free world." Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, urged Prince Harry to go to Auschwitz to learn about Nazi crimes, Ha'aretz reported.
(JTA) - E.C. president pledges to battle anti-Semitism
Meeting with World Jewish Congress officials, the president of the European Commission pledged to help battle anti-Semitism. The delegation, which was led by WJC President Edgar Bronfman, met with Jose Manuel Durao Barroso on Tuesday in Strasbourg. Barroso called the meeting "a symbol for my personal commitment to give the fight against anti-Semitism a high priority." He pledged to take direct action on the issue, starting with educating young people. Barroso also supported WJC proposals to intensify Jewish-Muslim dialogue in Europe. The WJC delegation then traveled to Jerusalem, where it met Wednesday with Israeli officials including Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and opposition legislator Yossi Beilin. Israel Singer, chairman of the WJC governing board, and Bobby Brown, the WJC's director of international affairs, briefed the Israeli officials on their meeting with Barroso.
(JTA) - Israelis can vote in Iraq
Iraqi-born Israelis can vote in Iraq's upcoming elections. A spokeswoman for Iraq's out-of-country-voting office said that anyone with an original Iraqi birth certificate can cast a ballot in the Jan. 30 poll, Ha'aretz reported. "There are no restrictions on Iraqis on the basis of religion, race or sex," Sarah Tosh said. "This definitely includes those who are Israeli citizens today." Those born outside Iraq to an Iraqi father also will be permitted to vote. Since its founding, Israel has taken in some 130,000 Jewish immigrants from Iraq. But turnout from Israel is not expected to be significant. "Anyone who sees Israel as his country will not vote in the Iraqi elections," Labor Party politician Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who was born in Iraq, told Israel Radio. But he welcomed the Iraqi election as another step toward building a "Baghdad-Jerusalem axis."
(JTA) - Le Pen: Nazi occupation 'not so bad'
Far-right French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen minimized the severity of Germany's World War II occupation of France. "In France, at least, the German occupation was not particularly inhuman, even if there were a few blunders," Le Pen told a small right-wing French newspaper, Rivarol. French Justice Minister Dominique Perben expressed outrage, as did CRIF, the main umbrella group of French Jewry. Perben has asked for a preliminary inquiry into the remarks. Le Pen has been convicted of racism or anti-Semitism at least six times.
(JTA) - Radicals in the ranks?
Israeli settlers opposed to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza withdrawal plan claim to have recruited sympathizers in the military. "We have our people embedded within their ranks, and when it comes down to the operations, we know every single detail," a pro-settler activist told the Jerusalem Post on Thursday, referring to withdrawals from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank slated for later this year. According to the unnamed source, a "large number" of right-wing sympathizers in the military and border police will refuse orders to evacuate settlements when the time comes. Israeli officials have voiced concern at the prospect of an ideological mutiny, especially as thousands of conscripts and reservists already have signed petitions against Sharon's "disengagement" plan. Military spokesmen did not immediately comment on the report.
(JTA) - Abbas win confirmed
A final tally confirmed Mahmoud Abbas' win in the Palestinian Authority presidential election. Campaign officials said Wednesday that Abbas, of the dominant Fatah faction, took 62.5 percent of votes in Sunday's poll, up slightly from exit poll results. The runner-up was independent candidate Mustafa Barghouthi, with 19.5 percent. Five other contenders won single-digit support. Abbas was to have been sworn in as president Wednesday by the Palestinian Legislative Council, but the ceremony was postponed to the weekend.
(JTA) - Soldier spared stockade
Israel's High Court of Justice overturned the court-martial of a soldier who urged comrades not to evacuate a West Bank settlement outpost. Yosef Filant, an off-duty sergeant who openly identifies with the religious right wing in Israel, barricaded himself in a building at the Mitzpe Yitzhar outpost while it was being removed last week. He was arrested and sentenced to 28 days in the stockade for urging soldiers carrying out the evacuation to refuse their orders. But a three-justice High Court panel dismissed the sentence Wednesday, finding procedural faults with the court-martial.
(JTA) - Wanted: King of Israel
A group of Jewish scholars attempted to recreate the ancient Sanhedrin tribunal in Jerusalem. According to the Jerusalem Post, the 71 Orthodox scholars who convened this week believe not only that they can reconstitute the Second Temple-era Sanhedrin, but that one of their members, Rabbi Yosef Dayan, could qualify as a Jewish monarch because he can trace his lineage to King David. The scholars, described as right-wing religious Zionists, admit that current political realities interfere with their hopes. Unless most Israelis want to replace the democratically elected government with a monarchy, Dayan told the Post, there is no option but to await the Messiah. Meanwhile, the new "Sanhedrin" has been brushing up on Temple ritual and other minutiae of Jewish law.
(JTA) - Polish students come to America
Eight Polish high school students will visit New York and Washington next week as part of a Holocaust remembrance project. The students are recipients of a 2004 award in a national screenplay-writing contest on the Holocaust, which attracted entries from more than 200 high school students around the country. Entrants were asked to write a screenplay on the Holocaust experience of members of the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust. The Polish branch of the group organized the U.S. program, called "Remembrance for the Future." The winning screenplays were shown on Polish television. During their eight-day visit, the students will visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the United Nations and American educational institutions dealing with the Holocaust. They also will meet with American students and Polish and Jewish leaders.
(JTA) - Syria's reach grows? (UPDATED)
Israel reportedly is up in arms over a Russian plan to sell missiles to Syria. The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported Wednesday that Russia intends to sell Syria a number of its Iskander-E missiles, which would bring most of Israel into range. The deal prompted Israel to recall its ambassador from Moscow, according to the daily. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom did not confirm the report but told Reuters, "We held discussions on this here among ourselves a few days ago. We hope to reach the necessary understandings with the Russian government." Ha'aretz quoted Israeli military officials as saying they fear the missiles could be used by Syria's proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah.
(JTA) - U.S. to Russia: no sale
U.S. policy is against the sale of weapons to Syria, and Russia knows it, the State Department said. Spokesman Richard Boucher said Wednesday that the department was seeking to confirm reports that Russia was planning to sell missiles to Syria, which is being sanctioned by the United States for sponsoring terrorism. "U.S. policy on this is very clear. We're against the sale of weaponry to Syria, against the sale of lethal military equipment to Syria, which is a state sponsor of terrorism," Boucher said. "We think those kinds of sales are not appropriate. The Russians know about this policy. They know about our views." Boucher said sanctions could be imposed if the sale is verified. "This is now speculation about something that may or may not occur," he said. "Let's see what does in fact happen, and we'll apply the law accordingly."
(JTA) - Reform to Bush: clarify 'God' statement
The Reform movement called on President Bush to state that there should be no religious test for the office of the presidency. In an interview published Wednesday in the Washington Times newspaper, Bush said his job "must always be protecting the great right of people to worship or not worship as they see fit." But he added, "On the other hand, I don't see how you can be president, at least from my perspective, how you can be president, without a relationship with the Lord." Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, called on Bush to clarify the remark. "On its face, the president's comments imply that only people with faith in God would be suitable for the office of president of the United States. This would suggest that millions of Americans whose religious beliefs do not accept monotheism, and millions of non-believers, are unfit to be the president of our nation," Saperstein said in a statement. "I do not believe that this is what the president intended, and I urge him to clarify this off-the-cuff statement in a manner that affirms the president's oft-stated commitment to religious pluralism, tolerance, and equality."
(JTA) - Jewish officials to meet Pope
A group of 160 Jewish leaders will meet with the Pope. The group, including rabbis, cantors, diplomats and other Jewish officials from the United States, Israel and Europe, will meet Pope John Paul II on Jan. 18 at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. Pave The Way, the ecumenical organization sponsoring the trip, is billing the papal audience as the largest-ever meeting of Jewish leaders with a sitting Pope. "It is only fitting that we humbly thank him for all he has done for the Jewish people of earth and, in turn, making inroads toward true peace on earth," said Gary Krupp, Pave the Way's president and founder. Among those taking part will be Rabbis Joseph Potasnik and Adam Mintz, executive director and president, respectively, of the New York Board of Rabbis; Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, chief rabbi of Efrat in Israel; and Oded Ben-Hur, Israeli ambassador to the Holy See. A dozen visiting cantors will give a concert the preceding evening at the Great Synagogue in Rome.
(JTA) - Israel's master plan in Arabic
A sweeping Israeli planning document is now available in Arabic. Israel's master plan for the year 2020 was published in Hebrew in 1997 in the aftermath of the Oslo accords and envisioned the borders of Arab countries opening up to Israelis. Beirut's Center of Arab Unity Studies has published portions of the document in Arabic, Ha'aretz reported. "We hope to hold meetings and workshops to discuss the plan," Salman Abu Sita, of the center, wrote in a letter to the Israeli who headed the team that created the master plan. "But until the boycott and the root cause, the Israeli occupation, is over, these activities will be restricted to academics in the Arab world and like- minded academics in Europe and the U.S." Israel's national master plan No. 35 based on the 18-volume 2020 plan was approved last week by the National Council of Planning and Construction and is being revised based on forecasts for the year 2050, Ha'aretz said.
(JTA) - Sages split UTJ
United Torah Judaism, a key Israeli religious bloc, split into two parties. The decision this week by Agudat Yisrael and Degel Hatorah, which had formed the five-man UTJ bloc, would not affect their participation in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new coalition government, officials said. The decision reportedly was made by Degel Hatorah sage Rabbi Yosef Elyashiv in protest after lawmaker Ya'acov Litzman of Agudat Yisrael became head of the Knesset Finance Committee, flouting a UTJ pledge upon entering the national unity government not to assume political posts for a probationary period of three months. UTJ opposes Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank this year and agreed to join forces with the ruling Likud party in order to secure funding for religious causes.
(JTA) - Are media sick of Israel-Palestine?
Major media outlets are avoiding coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to avoid charges of bias from both sides, an ombudsman said. Jeffrey Dvorkin, the National Public Radio ombudsman, suggested that NPR may have delayed a recent report on Palestinian Authority elections because the network is trying to avoid airing such reports altogether. "Can it be that some journalists, along with some listeners, just wish this story would go away?" Dvorkin asked in his online column Tuesday. "Most ombudsmen can attest that coverage of this subject draws constant allegations of bias. Anecdotally, I am told that some news organizations are now so battered that they tend to avoid the story as much as possible. Some of my colleagues at other news organizations say they report the story only when the outrages from one side or the other are too appalling to ignore."
(JTA) - Joining the Jewish army
Conversions by non-Jewish Israeli soldiers have tripled, the army said. According to Chaplaincy Corps figures released this week, 612 soldiers most of them immigrants from the former Soviet Union completed their conversions in 2004, more than three times as many as the year before. The specialized Orthodox conversions within Israel's military take around six months, but some fervently Orthodox groups have called their legitimacy into question, given the mixing of the sexes and secular mores in the ranks. JTA END