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Thursday September 20, 2007

Shorts: Mideast

Rabbis ban parade participation

An official committee appointed by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel has banned Jews from participating in the Jerusalem’s annual Sukkot parade, fearing missionary influences.

The rabbinate believes Christian missionaries plan to solicit Jewish participants to convert to Christianity under the guise of amicability toward Israel and the Jewish nation. The city denied this, saying that “participation is planned in advance and approved by the city, whose inspectors wouldn’t allow a missionary group or any other political group to attend the parade.” — ynetnews.com

Holocaust museum wins Spanish award

Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum and memorial, won a prestigious Spanish humanitarian award for its work in promoting tolerance through the remembrance of the Nazi genocide.

The jury of the Prince of Asturias award praised Yad Vashem “for its tenacious work to promote, among current and future generations, and through memory, the overcoming of hatred, racism and intolerance.”

Awards will be handed out later this year in Oviedo, capital of the Asturias region. — ap

Activists cry fowl over kapparot

An Israeli animal rights group appealed for an end to the use of chickens in the pre-Yom Kippur ritual kapparot, in which Orthodox Jews pay to have a chicken swung over their heads in a rite symbolizing penitence. The bird is then slaughtered for food.

Let the Animals Live, Israel’s biggest animal welfare society, sent a letter to former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef this week asking him to urge his followers to opt for a more humane and doctrinally approved version of kapparot in which money is used instead of a chicken and given to charity. Let the Animals Live argued that the more traditional ritual is unnecessarily cruel and thus contradicts biblical morality.

Yosef, who is considered the spiritual mentor for the powerful Sephardi religious political movement Shas, had no immediate response to the appeal. — jta

Drugs problematic for immigrant youth

More than a third of the youths who immigrated to Israel from former Soviet Union republics used drugs over the past year, and 88 percent of them drank alcohol, according to data published by the Israel Anti-Drug Authority on Tuesday, Sept. 18.

The study polled 750 teenagers aged 12 to 18 who were born to parents who immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet union from 1992 onward. Two-thirds of the respondents are students, while the rest dropped out of school.

The study also showed that in many cases the teens’ drug use was related to economic distress and family crises such as divorce. It further showed that the parents’ inability to speak Hebrew decreased their involvement in their children’s affairs and that many of them remained unaware of the drug use.

— ynetnews.com

Army panel wants women in combat

An Israeli army committee is recommending all combat jobs be opened to women, security officials said Monday, Sept. 17. If adopted, the change would dramatically reshape the front-line infantry, tank and special forces units that are the military’s last male bastions.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the committee had not formally presented its report, something they said was expected to happen next week.

The military would not confirm the details, saying only that the committee’s recommendations would be a tool for long-term planning meant to “maximize the abilities of women for the overall benefit of the armed forces.”

— ap

Majority of Russian olim content

Three-quarters of immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union said they would do it again if they were given the opportunity, according to a survey commissioned by the Immigration and Absorption Ministry.

Only 10 percent of those surveyed said they would never have immigrated if they knew then what they know now. On the other hand, almost a third of new immigrants between the ages 18 and 34 said they were not sure they would stay in Israel. The study also found that new immigrants earn less than their native or veteran counterparts. — jps

Swastikas painted on synagogue

Two swastikas were spray-painted on the walls of a Dimona synagogue the morning of Sept. 14, the second day of Rosh Hashanah.

Dimona Mayor Meir Cohen, who was among those who discovered the swastikas, promised to pay $500 from his own pocket to anyone who would provide information on the perpetrators. In spite of the holiday, municipality workers arrived at the synagogue and erased the swastikas from the wall.

“I think that following the reports on the neo-Nazi cells uncovered in Israel, all the mice are now coming out of their holes, and we have to fight them firmly,” Cohen said. — ynetnews.com

Israelis say no to legal gaming

Israelis are opposed to legalized gambling in the country, according to a poll conducted by the Keevoon Research Strategy organization.

Asking Israelis whether they support or not they support legalized casino gambling, 55 percent said they oppose legalizing casinos while 37 percent said they support it.The religious community seemed to contribute significantly in opposing this issue. Eighty-five percent of haredim and 78 percent of modern Orthodox Israelis are opposed to legalizing casinos. — ynetnewscom

Israeli Arabs outgrowing Jews

Israeli Arabs are reproducing well above the rate of their Jewish compatriots. Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, issuing annual census data ahead of Rosh Hashanah, said Monday, Sept. 10 that the national population stands at 7.2 million.

Jews make up 75.8 percent of the population and Arabs nearly 20 percent. The rest are naturalized foreign workers or other religious minorities. Israel’s Jewish population is growing at 1.8 percent annually.

By contrast, the growth rate for Israeli Arabs is 2.6 percent.

The rate is highest among Arab Muslims, who constitute the vast majority of Israeli Arabs — 2.9 percent. — jta

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